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BERKELEY 


THE 


GREAT  STONE  BOOK 


NATURE. 


THE 


GREAT  STONE  BOOK 


ATUKE. 


BY 


DAVID  THOMAS  ANSTED,  M.A. 

F.R.S.,   F.Q.S.,  ETC. 

LATE  FELLOW   OF  JESUS  COLLEGE,   CAMBRIDGE;   HONORARY  FELLOW  OF  KING'3 
COLLEGE,   LONDON. 


PHILADELPHIA : 
GEORGE    W.   CHILD  S, 

628  &  630  CHESTNUT  STREET. 

1863. 


.  7- 


EARTH 
SCIENCES 

LIBRARY 


o 

PHILADELPHIA. 


\ 


/ 


CONTENTS. 


$tttmbmJ0rg  Chapter, 

THE    BOOK    OF    NATURE. 

Nature  a  Library  rather  than  a  Book— Unity  of  Method  in  Creation— Infinite 
Resources  of  Nature — Extent  to  which  the  Plan  of  Nature  is  made  out — The 
Study  of  the  "  STONE  BOOK"— What  it  means— Necessity  of  studying  the  Lan- 
guage of  Nature  to  understand  the  Book — Meaning  of  Geology — The  Language 
of  Geology  a  Picture-Language — Facilities  for  observing  in  Geology — Method 
of  Nature  illustrated  from  Astronomy — Familiar  Causes  of  Geological  Pheno- 
mena— The  First  Lessons  to  be  learnt — Quarries  and  Cuttings  not  indis- 
pensable   Page  21 


PAKT  THE  FIEST, 
THE  LANGUAGE  OF  THE  GREAT  STONE  BOOK. 


THE  RIVER-BED  AND  THE   SEA-BEACH. 

THE  RIVER—  Its  first  Traces  and  subsequent  Course—  Passage  through  the  Plains 
—  Approach  to  the  Sea  —  Cause  of  the  unfailing  Supply  of  Water  —  The  Water 
muddy  after  Rain  —  Reason  of  this  —  The  Bed  of  the  River  —  How  occupied  — 
Passage  of  a  River  through  a  Lake,  and  the  Result—  General  Result  at  the 
Mouths  of  large  Rivers—  Illustration  in  the  Case  of  the  Mississippi—  THE  SEA- 
BEACH—HOW  it  differs  from  the  River-bed—  Formation  of  a  Pebble-beach^- 
Effect  of  Stones  rubbing  over  each  other  —  Incessant  Motion  of  the  Water 
owing  to  Tidal  Action—  The  General  Circulation  of  Water  through  the  Earth 
the  Cause  of  the  Incessant  Wearing  of  the  Surface  ..............................    35 

1*  5 


CONTENTS. 


cr 

THE  SUN,  THE  WIND,  THE  RAIN,  AND  THE  FROST. 

Result  of  Drought  in  cracking  the  Earth  —  Subsequent  Rain  splitting  and 
removing  large  Fragments  —  Effect  of  Winter,  Rain,  and  Frost  —  The  Effect 
chiefly  seen  where  there  is  little  Cultivation  —  Effect  on  an  exposed  Coast  — 
Effect  of  Ice  —  Formation  of  Glaciers  —  Removal  of  Stone  by  Glaciers  —  Limit 
of  Glacier  Action-^Effect  of  Wind  on  loose  Sand—  Effect  of  Lightning—  The 
Destruction  of  the  Surface  perpetual  —  Incessant  Alternation  of  Heat  and 
Cold—  Direct  Action  of  Rain  and  Frost—  Total  Amount  of  Change  thus 
Caused—  Rocks—  The  different  Varieties  .........................................  Page  47 


PAET  THE  SECOND, 
THE  STONES  OF  THE  GREAT  STONE  BOOK. 


CLAY  AND  ITS  VARIETIES. 

What  is  meant  by  Clay  —  Its  Origin  —  ALUMINIUM  —  Alumina  —  Forms  in  which 
Alumina  is  known  —  Its  Combination  with  Silica  to  form  CLAY  —  Clay  always 
mixed  with  Water  and  foreign  Impurities—  Properties  of  Clay—  Production 
of  Brick—  Various  Kinds  of  Brick-clay—  Fire-clay—  Its  Composition  and  Use 
—  Terra-cotta  —  How  formed  —  Its  Advantages  and  Disadvantages  —  Potter's- 
clay  —  Where  obtained,  and  how  used  —  China-clay  —  Its  composition  —  Whence 
obtained  —  How  and  where  used  —  Floating-bricks  and  Bath-brick  —  Fuller's- 
earth—Its  Nature  and  Use  —  Lias  —  Its  peculiar  Properties  —  Alum-clay  —  Its 
Use—  Rarity  of  Fossils  in  some  Clays  —  Drainage  of  Clay-lands  —  Artesian 
Springs  beneath  Clays  —  Curious  Remains  of  Cuttle-fish  and  other  .Animals  in 
Clays  —  Remains  of  Reptiles  —  Fragments  of  Vegetation  —  Fruits  at  Sheppy  — 
Chief  Deposits  of  Clay  in  England  —  Characteristics  of  each  —  SLATE  —  Its  Nature 
and  Uses—  Origin  of  Slate—  Contents  of  Clay  Rocks—  Felspar  a  Variety  of  Clay 
—Lava  and  Pumice  of  the  same  Nature—  Precious  Stones  derived  from  Clay  61 


(Soapier  %  cfowrt^. 

CHALK. 

The  Surface  and  Landscape  in  a  Chalk  District—  Features  of  the  Chalk  in  the 
British  Islands—  The  characteristic  Peculiarities  of  Chalk  as  a  Rock—  Its 
Contents  —  Its  Identity  with  deep-sea  Mud,  or  Oaze  —  Its  Dissimilarity  to  other 
Limestones  —  Its  probable  Origin  —  Flints  in  the  Chalk  —  Their  Position  and 


CONTENTS.  7 

Form — Frequent  Association  with  Fossils — How  produced  originally — Bed- 
ding of  Chalk— Beds  often  disturbed— Chalk-cliffs  of  the  South  Coast— Chalk 
in  France — Accumulations  of  Material  covering  parts  of  the  Chalk — Portions 
of  the  Chalk  often  removed— Texture  of  Chalk— Its  Water-content— Uses  of 
Chalk,  for  Building,  for  Lime,  and  for  dressing  Land — The  History  of  Chalk 
and  Flint — Occasional  but  rare  Occurrence  of  foreign  Substances  in  Chalk — 
Chalk  a  good  Starting-point  for  the  Young  English  Geologist ...  Page  78 


Chapter  %  $ iftjy. 

LIMESTONES    AND    MAKBLE. 

Limestones  differ  from  Chalk  in  being  more  Crystalline — Passage  of  Limestone 
into  Marble — Limestone  only  occasionally  present  on  the  Earth — Its  Valuo 
as  a  Rock— Varieties  of  Limestone—  Carbonates  of  Lime  (Limestones  Proper) 
— Carbonates  of  Lime  and  Magnesia  (Magnesian  Limestones)  and  Sulphates 
of  Lime  (Gypsum) — Marbles — Oolites — Bedding  of  Limestones — Limestones 
in  the  Quarry — Quarries  Picturesque  Objects  —  Underground  Quarries — 
Caverns  in  Limestone — Stalactites  and  Stalagmites  in  Caverns — Bone-contenta 
of  Caverns — Human  Remains  in  Caverns — Cliff-scenery  of  Limestone-rock  in 
Derbyshire  and  elsewhere — Beds  of  Limestone — Valuable  Minerals  found  in 
Limestone — Composition  of  ordinary  Limestone  compared  with  that  of  Chalk 
— "Work  of  the  Coral  Animal — Position  and  Locality  of  Limestone-rock  and 
Marble— Sulphate  of  Lime,  Gypsum  and  Alabaster— Position  as  Rocks— Lo- 
calities— Uses — Phosphate  of  Lime — Coprolites — General  Conclusion  concern- 
ing Limestones 91 


% 

SAND    AND     SANDSTONE. 

Universality  of  Sand— Gold  Sands— Their  Wide  Range— Silica  Sands— Nature 
of  Silica — Varieties  of  Silica  commonly  found — Flints  ^Their  Nature  and 
Composition — Appearance  under  the  Microscope — Uses  of  Flint — Flint  com- 
mon in  Chalk,  and  other  Forms  of  Silica  in  other  Limestones — Sandstone — 
Varieties  of  Sandstone  —  Their  Uses  —  Flagstones  —  Footprints  and  other 
Markings  on  Sandstone — Their  Origin — Abundance  in  certain  Districts — The 
Animals  that  have  made  these  Markings — Sandstones  of  this  kind  rarely 
good  for  Building — Salt  in  Sandstone  Deposits — Gypsum  found  with  Salt  in 
Sand — Bitumen  and  Asphalte  in  Sand-rocks — Use  of  Sandstone  in  allowing 
Water  to  percolate — Fossils  found  with  Sand-rocks — Minerals  in  Sandstone 
and  Quartz — Gold  Sands — Quartz  Rocks  and  their  Appearance — General 
Barrenness  of  Quartz  Sands  and  Rocks 106 


8  CONTENTS. 

Chapter 

GRANITE,  GRANITIC  ROCKS,  AND  LAVA. 

Varieties  of  Stone  not  yet  treated  of — Where  Granite  is  best  seen  and  studied 
— Reefs  and  Detached  Rocks  and  Islands  —  Cliifs  —  Color  as  well  as  Form 
of  Granite  peculiar — Rounded  Mountains  and  Pyramidal  Peaks  of  Granite — 
Granite  in  Egypt — Buildings  of  Granite  sometimes  almost  indestructible — 
Natural  Cliffs  of  Granite  sometimes  rapidly  worn — Composition  of  Granite — 
Principal  Varieties— Granite  Veins— Their  Contents— Granite  in  principal 
Mountain-Chains— Porphyry— In  what  it  differs  from  Granite  —  Extreme 
Hardness  of  Porphyry — Lava — Its  Nature — Basalt — Where  chiefly  found — 
Properties — Gneiss  and  Schists — Rotten  Granite — Picturesque  Examples  of 
decomposed  Granite  in  Bavaria Page  121 


PAET  THE  THIRD, 

THE    PLACEMENT   AND    DISPLACEMENT   OF 
THE  STONES  IN  THE  GREAT  STONE  BOOK. 


% 

IN   THE    BRICK-FIELD   AND   THE   GRAVEL-PIT. 

Links  connecting  the  Present  with  the  Past—  The  ordinary  Means  at  Hand  to 
determine  such  Links  sufficient—  Brick  Clay—  How  associated—  Mixed  with 
Sand  —  Supposed  to  be  the  Result  of  a  Deluge  —  Section  of  a  Brick-pit  —  Con- 
dition of  a  Gravel-pit  —  Marine  Shells  and  similar  Fossils  found  with  Gravel 
—  Effects  of  Water  —  Large  Districts  recently  under  Water  —  Effect  of  Tor- 
rents of  Water  or  Deluges  —  Long  Duration  of  Causes  producing  Diluvial 
Appearances  —  Earthquake  Action  insufficient  to  account  for  a  Deluge  —  Time 
required—  History  of  a  Pebble  ...........................................................  135 


IN  THE  QUARRY  AND  THE  MINE. 

Quarries  almost  universally  accessible  —  All  Kinds  of  Stone  are  quarried  — 
Magnitude  of  Quarries  —  Points  of  Interest  in  Quarries  —  What  Lessons  will 
be  inculcated  in  this  Chapter  —  Nature  of  Material  quarried  —  Granite  Quarries 
—  Only  some  Portions  of  the  Stone  workable  —  Reason  why  there  is  so  much 
Difference  in  Quality  —  Joints  and  Systems  of  Cracks  —  Veins  penetrating  the 
Mass  of  Stones  —  Frequent  Improvement  of  Quality  of  Stone  in  descending  — 


CONTENTS.  9 

Slate  Quarries— Their  Points  of  Interest— Facility  of  Splitting,  or  Cleavagz, 
that  characterizes  Slate— The  Sets  of  Joints— LimestmeQuarries— Varieties  of 
Limestone— Joints  in  Marble  and  Limestone— Different  Kinds  of  Limestone 
quarried— Limestone  generally  much  broken  near  the  Surface— Fossils  com- 
mon in  certain  Beds— Sandstone— How  bedded— Marks  of  Bedding— Joints 
— Basalt — Picturesqueness  of  Quarries  in  this  Rock — Columnar  Character 
of  the  Rock— Proof  of  Igneous  Origin  of  Basalt— General  Result  of  the 
Examination  of  Quarries— Under-ground  Quarries  at  Caen— Mining  is  a  kind 
of  under-ground  Quarrying— Mines  generally— Mining  for  Coal— Mining  in 
Mineral  Veins  for  Metals  and  Ores— Systems  of  Mineral  Veins— Example  in 
Cornwall— Right-running  Veins  and  Cross-Courses—General  Summary  of  the 
Lessons  learned  in  Quarries  and  Mines Page  151 


CIrapter  % 

VOLCANOES  AND  EARTHQUAKES. 

Volcanic  Mountains — Their  Conical  Form — Nature  of  the  Eruptions  from  them — 
Examples  of  Ancient  and  Recent  Eruptions — Elevations  at  which  Eruptions 
may  take  place  in  no  way  limited— Distribution  of  Volcanoes  in  Groups  in 
different  Parts  of  the  World— Volcanoes  now  extinct— Universal  Proof  of  the 
Reaction  of  the  Interior  of  the  Earth  on  the  Surface— Interior  of  Africa  and 
Australia  less  Volcanic  than  other  Countries— Hot  Springs  and  other  Proof 
of  High  Temperature  at  a  Small  Depth— History  of  a  Volcanic  Eruption— Noises 
—Outbursts  of  Gas  and  Steam  with  Sulphur— Slight  Shocks  and  Tremblings 
of  the  Ground— Eruption  of  fine  Ashes  and  Dust— Lava— Nature  and  Amount 
of  this  Substance  poured  out— Little  Difference  in  the  Nature  of  Volcanic 
Products — What  Volcanoes  indicate — Earthquakes — Meaning  of  the  Pheno- 
menon—Duration of  an  Earthquake— Range  of  a  Single  Disturbance— Extent 
of  the  Earth's  Surface  sometimes  disturbed — Periods  when  Earthquakes 
chiefly  occur— More  Earthquakes  in  Cold  than  in  Warm  Weather— Changes 
of  Level  accompanying  Earthquakes— Examples  in  America  and  India- 
Upheavals  in  the  Absence  of  Earthquakes — Scandinavian  Coast  known  to 
undergo  Changes  of  Level— Raised  Beaches  in  various  Places— Importance 
of  recent  Changes— Laws  and  Theories  of  Earthquakes 163 


r 

THE    DISTURBANCE    OF    ROCKS. 

Order  observable  in  Stratified  Rocks— Appearance  of  Stratified  Rocks  illustrated 
by  the  Piling  of  Books^— General  Irregularity  of  the  Placing— Most  of  the 
Rocks  are  Slanted— The  Railroad  from  London  to  Brighton— The  Sequence 
of  the  Rocks  observed,  and  their  Meaning— Disruption  of  the  Chalk- -More 


10  CONTENTS. 

complicated  Examples  of  Tilted  Rocks— Further  Disturbances  indicated- 
General  Result  of  Travelling  across  England— Order  of -the  Rocks  sometimes 
disturbed— The  Reason  of  this— Detached  Portions  of  Rocks— Extent  and 
Range  of  similar  Deposits  in  various  Countries — Australia  and  Africa  con- 
trasted with  England — Complications  of  Rocks  in  Mountain-Districts — Con- 
version of  one  Rock  into  another  under  such  Circumstances — Great  Disturb- 
ance involved — Upheaval  of  the  Great  Mountain-Chains  —  The  Himalayan 
Chain  and  the  Alps — The  Andes — Older  but  Lower  Mountain- Axes — Results 
of  Upheaval  on  the  Rocks — Special  Language  employed  by  Geologists  in 
describing  such  Phenomena— Explanation  of  Terms— Dip  and  Strike  of  Rocks 
— Faults — Anticlinal  Axis — Conformable  and  Unconformable  Stratification — 
Granite  the  Central  Rock  of  Mountain-Axes — Granite  formed  at  Great  Depth 
— Derivation  of  Metamorphic  Rocks — Catastrophes  not  necessarily  involved 
in  these  Changes— Objection  to  assuming  that  the  Changes  that  have  taken 
place  have  involved  a.System  of  Interferences Page  181 


PAET  THE  FOURTH, 
THE  PICTUKES  IN  THE  GREAT  STONE  BOOK. 


WHAT    THE    PICTURES    ARE,   AND   WHAT    THEY    MEAN. 

Necessity  of  Time  in  explaining  Elevation  of  Rocks—  Contents  of  Rocks- 
Petrifactions,  or  Fossils  —  Mode  in  which  Organic  Substances  may  be  pre- 
served —  Organic  Remains  —  The  Pictures  in  the  Stone  Book  —  Abundance  of 
Remains  of  Life  —  What  Parts  are  likely  to  be  buried  safely  —  Small  Pro- 
portion of  the  Whole  that  can  thus  be  presented  for  Examination  —  Great 
Variety  really  found  in  spite  of  the  Causes  of  Destruction  —  Further  Illus- 
tration of  the  Use  of  Fossils  by  a  Number  of  Books  —  Real  Value  of  the 
Geologic  Record  —  Simplest  Forms  of  Organization  indicated  in  a  Fossil  State 
—  Sponges  found  fossil  in  various  Deposits  —  Vegetable  Remains  found  in 
Coal  and  the  adjacent  Rocks  —  Corals  frequently  indicated  by  their  actual 
stony  Skeletons—  Peculiarities  of  Form  of  the  earlier  Corals—  Stony  Parts 
of  Star-fishes  and  Sea-urchins  —  Curious  Habits  of  some  of  these  Animals 
assist  in  the  Dispersion  of  their  Remains  —  Indications  of  Worms  and  Insects 
and  of  Crabs  and  Lobsters  not  rare  —  Bivalve  and  Univalve  Shells  —  Remains 
of  Fishes  and  peculiar  Structure  of  such  Animals  favorable  for  Preserva- 
tion —  Reptiles,  Birds,  and  Quadrupeds  —  Circumstances  under  which  Remains 
of  Quadrupeds  might  be  retained  ......................................................  199 


CONTENTS.  11 


Chapter  %  Cfci 

ANCIENT    FORESTS    AND    MODERN    FUEL. 

The  Chain  of  Mineral  Fuel  through  England—  Coal  Scenery—  Visit  to  a  Coal- 
mine—Impression made  on  the  Visitor—  The  Floor  of  the  Mine—  The  Root- 
lets of  Trees  in  the  Floor—  Absence  of  Under-clay  in  some  Coal-fields—  Coal 
very  regular  in  some  Countries  —  Coal  the  Remains  of  Ancient  Vegetation 
—Microscopic  Evidence  of  the  Origin  of  Coal  —  Coal  Strata  and  its  Fossils  — 
Abundance  of  Ferns  indicated—  Trunks  of  Trees—  Appearance  of  an  ancient 
Forest  of  the  Coal  Period—  Principal  Varieties  of  Trees—  The  Siffillaria,  or 
Scarred-trunk  Tree-fern  —  Its  Appearance  and  Chief  Characteristics  —  The 
Roots  (Stigmarise)  and  their  Peculiarities  —  The  Lepidodendron  an  ancient 
Arborescent  Club-moss  —  The  Calamite:  its  Nature  and  Peculiarities  —  Tree- 
ferns  very  common  —  Insects  found  in  the  Coal-beds  —  Origin  of  Coal  —  Differ- 
ences between  Wood  and  all  kinds  of  Coal—  Multiplication  of  Beds  of  Coal 
on  the  same  Spot  —  Upheaval  of  Coal  Deposits  —  How  Coal  Forests  can  have 
grown  in  Northern  Climates  —  Climate  required  —  Possible  Alteration  of 
Northern  Climates  by  Changes  in  the  Land—  Former  Archipelago  probable 

—  Enormous  Quantity  of  Vegetation  needed  to  produce  a  Bed  of  Coal  —  Origin 
of  Coal—  Prospect  of  continued  Supplies  ......................................  Page  218 

Chapter  %  <Jf  owrimtilj. 

THE    PRE-ADAMITE  WORLD. 

Remains  of  Former  Inhabitants  of  the  Earth  —  Ancient  Stone  Weapons  Qf  Pre- 
historic Races—  Relation  of  Structure  to  Habits,  the  Key  to  this  Part  of  Na- 
ttiral  History  —  Peculiarities  of  Structure  illustrating  this  —  Extinct  Species 
of  Animals  found  among  the  Fossils  —  The  Study  and  Use  of  Fossils  deter- 
mine the  Order  of  Stratified  Rocks,  and  enable  Geologists  to  identify  them 

—  Mechanical  Illustration  of  this  Mode  of  identifying  Rocks  —  Frequent 
Omissions  in  the  Series  of  Fossils  —  Imperfection  of  the  Geologic  Record  — 
Number  and  Variety  of  Objects  found  Fossil  —  Remains  of  Man  and  of  the 
larger  Quadrupeds—  Elephants  and  gigantic  Quadrupeds  once  common  in 
England  —  The  Mammoth  —  Curious  and  anomalous  Forms  found  in  India  — 
The  Sivathere  and  others  —  Remarkable  gigantic  Sloth-like  Quadrupeds  in 
South  America  —  Gigantic  Marsupials  in  Australia  —  Curious  Quadrupeds  of  the 
older  Rocks—  Birds  in  a  Fossil  State—  Gigantic  Birds  of  New  Zealand—  Foot- 
prints of  Birds  and  Reptiles—  Reptiles—  Frog-like  Reptiles  (Labyrinthodori) 

—  Flying  Reptiles  (Pterodactyl)  —  Marine  Reptiles  —  Ichtliyosaur  and  Plesiosaur 
—Fossil  Fishes,  with  bony  Plates  coated  with  Enamel—  Fossil  Sharks  and 
Rays—  Fossil  Cuttle-fishes—  Ammonites  and  Belemnites—  Bivalve  Shells—  State- 
ment of  the  Law  that  Fossils  are  characteristic  of  Formations—  Kinds  of 
Fossils  most  useful  for  this  Purpose—  Vast  Profusion  of  Nature  in  the  Accu- 
mulation and  Distribution  of  Fossils  ................  ..................................  240 


12  CONTENTS. 

PART  THE  PIFTH, 
THE  TREASURES  OF  THE  GREAT  STONE  BOOK. 


GLITTERING  TREASURES  OF  THE  EARTH. 

The  Earth  contains  many  beautiful  and  valuable  Objects  belonging  to  the 
Mineral  Kingdom  —  Object  of  the  present  Chapter  to  describe  only  One  Group 

—  The  Gems  and  their  Literature  —  Various  Ways  of  viewing  the  Subject  — 
The  DIAMOND  —  Anciently  valued  for  special  Purposes  —  Classical  Account  of 
its  Discovery  —  Diamonds  associated  with  Gold  —  Obtained  by  Washing  —  Marco 
Polo's  Account  of  Diamond-finding  —  Brazilian  Diamonds  —  Composition  of  the 
Diamond  —  Cutting  of  the  Diamond  —  Colored  Diamonds  —  Large  Diamonds  — 
The  Pitt  Diamond  and  the  Koh-i-noor—  Uses  of  Diamonds—  RUBY  and  SAP- 
PHIRE —  Varieties  of  these  Gems  —  Corundum  —  Greek  Name  for  the  Ruby  — 
The  Ruby  phosphoric  —  Remarkable  Stones  —  Sapphire;  its  supposed  Value 
about  the  Person  —  Used  to  engrave  upon  —  EMERALD  —  Its  Properties  —  Large 
Specimens  without  Flaw  very  rare  —  Whence  obtained  —  Superstitions  con- 
cerning this  Stone  —  Large  flat  Stones  admired  in  the  East  —  Supposed  Medical 
and  other  Properties  —  BERYL,  or  Aqua-marine  —  Its  Appearance  and  Proper- 
ties— TOPAZ—  The  Oriental  Topaz  a  Sapphire—  Varieties  of  Color  and  Uses 
of  the  Topaz—  GARNET—  The  Carbuncle  a  Garnet—  Color  and  Properties— 
Hyacinth,  Zircon,  and  other  Stones  —  MOONSTONE  and  other  varieties  of  Felspar 

—  QUARTZ,  and  the  Gems  obtained  from  it  —  Crystal,  a  Name  for  Quartz  — 
Cairngorm,  Jasper,  and  Bloodstone  —  Agate,  Onyx,  &c.  and  Carnelian  —  Use  of 
the  Onyx  in  Cameos  —  CaVs-eye,  and  other  Combinations  of  Quartz  with  Water 
—Cavities  in  Quartz—  OPAL—  Its  great  Beauty  and  Value—  TURQUOISE—  Its 
History  —  PEARLS  —  Where  and  how  found  —  Seed-Pearls  —  AMBER  —  How  found 

—  Its  Value  —  Medicinal  Properties  —  CORAL  —  Found  in  the  Mediterranean  — 
Curious  Superstitions  concerning  it  —  Polish  Superstitions  concerning  Gems 

—  Apostle  Gems  —  Jet,  Malachite,  and  Lapis-lazuli  —  Jade  —  The  Lessons  to  be 
learnt  from  Gems  —  Their  great  Beauty  and  small  apparent  Use  —  The  Use 
of  Beauty  ..................................................................................  Page  267 


Chapter  % 

SOURCES  OF  METALLIC  WEALTH. 

How  the  Metals  are  met  with—  Native  Metals—  Ores—  Noble  Metals  generally 
found  Native  —  They  are  comparatively  rare  —  GOLD  —  How  Discovered  —  Chief 
Localities  —  Properties  of  Gold  —  Gold-dust,  Pepitas,  and  Nuggets  —  Suddr 


CONTENTS.  13 

Influx  of  Gold  from  Time  to  Time— Very  wide  Range  of  Gold— Gold  Leaf 
and  Wire — Gold  occasionally  combined  with  other  Metals — Transmutation 
of  Base  Metals  into  Gold— Real  Quantity  of  Gold  obtained  very  small,  com- 
pared with  the  Quantities  of  other  Metals  found— Value  of  Gold  not  facti- 
tious— SILVER — Its  Appearance — Less  capable  than  Gold  of  resisting  Acids — 
Native  Silver — Common  Ores  of  Silvers-Combinations  with  Lead  and  Copper 
— Properties  and  Uses  of  Silver — Silver  a  Metal  very  widely  distributed — 
De-silverization  of  Lead — MERCURY — A  Fluid  Metal — Amalgam  found  with 
Sulphur — Uses  of  Mercury  in  the  Arts — Divisions  of  the  Base  Metals — Mal- 
leable Group — COPPER — Its  Properties  and  Peculiarities — Its  History — Occa- 
sionally found  Pure  in  large  Quantities — Ores — Pyrites  and  Malachite — LEAD 
—Common  Ores— Galena— Properties  and  Uses  of  Lead— IRON— Its  History 
—Sources  of  Supply— Properties  and  Uses— TIN— Its  Uses,  History,  and  Pro- 
perties—ZINC— When  discovered— Very  volatile— Uses— NICKEL— Its  Value 
in  making  German  Silver— Its  Properties— COBALT— Its  Uses— Ores  usually 
found  —  ARSENIC  —  ANTIMONY  —  BISMUTH  —  MANGANESE —  CHROMIUM  —  Rarer 
Metals— Meteoric  Stones— Metals  in  the  Sun  and  Stars Page  293 


ilje 


THE  CIRCULATION    OF  WATER. 

The  Circulation  of  Water  not  necessary  to  Planetary  Existence  —  Universal 
Distribution  of  Water  near  the  Earth's  Surface—  Water  exists  in  two  ways 
in  Rocks—  Part  of  it  helps  to  form  all  Solids—  Part  fills  up  the  Crevices  and 
Open  Spaces  in  all  Rocks  —  This  State  of  Things  only  kept  up  by  the  con- 
stant Circulation—  Phenomena  of  Springs  and  Wells  illustrate  this—  Course 
of  Water  in  its  Circulation—  Water  always  in  the  Air—  How  supplied—  How 
lifted  into  the  Air  by  Evaporation  from  the  Sea  —  Drifted  along  in  Clouds  — 
Falling  on  the  Earth  in  Rain  —  Conveyance  along  the  Surface  in  Rivers  — 
Absorbent  Power  of  Sand  and  Sandstones,  Limestones  and  Chalk  —  Total 
Quantity  of  Water  in  a  given  Volume  of  Rock—  Electrical  Action  in  the 
Conversion  of  Water  into  Steam—  The  Water  that  falls  as  Rain—  Its  Course 
when  it  enters  the  Earth—  No  Repose  in  Nature—  Changes  that  take  place 
in  the  Earth's  Interior  —  Deposit  generally  as  Mud  —  Partial  Drying  under 
Pressure  —  Subsequent  Depression,  and  final  Re-lifting  —  Results  of  these 
Movements—  Destruction  and  Denudation  when  Rocks  come  again  to  the 
Surface—  Result  if  the  Earth  were  deprived  of  Water  ............................  313 

2 


14  CONTENTS. 


THE  SHUTTINGMJP  OF  THE  GKREAT  STONE 
BOOK. 

Copter  %  <%(jtttni|j. 

CONCLUSION. 

General  View  of  the  History  of  the  World— Geology  a  crmralative  Science- 
No  Finality  in  the  Discoyeries — Observation  of  Nature  the  only  Path  to 
Geological  Discovery — Observation  possible  to  all — Extreme  Importance  of 
accurate  Observation — No  Mystery  in  Geology — Discovery  of  Systems  and 
Laws  the  Kesult  of  accurate  Observation — The  real  Method  of  Nature  may 
bo  ultimately  made  out — Geology  the  most  important  Department  of  Natural 
History — Certainty  of  Benefit  from  the  Study  of  Nature  in  a  right  Manner — 
The  one  great  Lesson  of  Geology  is  to  enforce  the  Necessity  of  a  careful 
Study  of  existing  Methods  of  Nature Page  327 


EXPLANATORY  LIST 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


I.  VIGNETTES. 


THIS  Plate  represents  a  group  of  figures  of  vertebrate  animals  such  as  have 
existed  on  the  earth  at  various  geological  periods.  Species  are  selected  that 
are  among  the  most  singular  in  form  and  proportions,  and  also  among  those 
whose  remains  are  sufficiently  perfect  to  justify  a  restoration  of  the  complete 
animal.  The  following  are  the  names  by  which  they  are  known  to  naturalists, 
and  the  deposits  in  which  they  are  found.  They  are  drawn  as  nearly  as  possi- 
ble to  the  same  scale.  Most  of  the  animals  are  alluded  to  in  Chapter  the 
Fourteenth. 

1.  MEGATHERIUM,  a  Newer  Tertiary  gigantic  Sloth. 

2.  PALEOTHERIUM,  an  Older  Tertiary  animal  like  the  Tapir. 

3.  DINORNIS,  a  very  modern  but  extinct  gigantic  Bird. 

4.  MEGALOSADRUS,  a  Middle  Secondary  gigantic  Land  Reptile. 

5.  PLESIOSAURCS,  a  Middle  Secondary  gigantic  Marine  Reptile. 

6.  PTERODACTYL,  a  Middle  and  Newer  Secondary  Flying  Reptile. 

7.  LABYRINTHODON,  an  Older  Secondary  and  Paleozoic  Frog-like  Reptile. 


8.  DAPEDIUM, 

9.  PTYCHOLEPIS, 


i  two  Secondary  Fishes  of  the  Lias  Period. 


oft! 

A  sketch  illustrating  the  atmospheric  and  aqueous  forces  tending  to  modify 
the  surface  of  the  earth  at  present.  In  this  view  distant  snow-clad  mountains, 
with  glaciers  in  the  valleys,  are  represented  in  their  relation  to  a  river  convey- 
ing the  worn  material  to  the  ocean.  The  rocks  and  cliffs  enclosing  the  river 
are  much  more  widely  separated  than  seems  due  to  the  magnitude  of  the  river. 
Near  the  sea  the  destruction  caused  by  the  tidal  wave  is  indicated,  and  thus  in 
many  ways  the  language  of  the  Great  Stone  Book  is  taught. 


16  EXPLANATORY    LIST    OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Stones  of  %  §ooli. 


The  Stones  of  the  Book  are  indicated  by  a  group  of  very  singular  boulders, 
probably  worn  by  exposure  to  atmospheric  influences  generally,  rather  than 
by  water  alone.  These  large  egg-shaped  stones  have  been  figured  from  an 
American  sketch.  Similar  but  more  angular  boulders  are  found  in  various 
parts  of  Northern  Europe.  All  rocks  are  Stones  of  the  Book  of  the  "World, 
and  picturesque  scenery  in  every  country  may  be  regarded  as  exemplifying 
some  one  or  other  of  them. 


%\t  Jjkttttunt  mtb  Jisplatxnwnt  of  %  Stones. 

In  this  diagrammatic  sketch  are  illustrated  some  of  the  more  striking  phe- 
nomena of  the  disturbance  of  rocks.  In  the  background  is  a  volcano,  the  im- 
mediate indication  of  the  reaction  of  the  interior  of  the  earth  on  its  external 
surface.  On  the  right  are  representations  of  anticlinal  and  synclinal  axes, 
faults,  and  other  fractures  of  strata ;  and  on  the  left  are  examples  of  conform- 
able and  unconformabk  stratification,  tilted  rocks,  and  also  of  the  accumulation 
of  debris  at  the  foot  of  cliffs. 


|)kta«s  m 


A  sketch  illustrating  some  of  the  more  remarkable  and  better-known  varie- 
ties of  tree-vegetation  supposed  to  afford  the  nearest  resemblance  to  the 
vegetation  of  the  Coal  Period.  The  tree-ferns,  and  the  curious  varieties  of 
palms  and  pines,  characteristic  of  islands  in  the  South  Pacific  Ocean,  are  those 
that  have  been  chiefly  referred  to  for  form  and  general  appearance.  The 
actual  shapes,  proportions,  and  markings  of  the  remains  of  trees,  found  fossil 
in  our  coal-measures,  are  taken  as  authorities  for  the  wide  divergence  from 
these  modern  types.  Many  of  the  principal  forms  are  described  in  Chapter 
the  Thirteenth,  on  "Ancient  Forests  and  Modern  Fuel." 


|e  feasts  of  %  $)o0k. 


A  group  of  some  of  the  most  interesting  and  picturesque  minerals  and 
native  metals,  drawn  from  specimens  in  the  possession  of  Professor  Tennant. 
The  following  are  the  references  to  the  Plate : — 

1.  A  mass  of  small  Crystals  of  Quartz  or  Rock-crystal  of  the  most  usual 

form  (see  p.  109). 

2.  A  specimen  of  doubly-refracting  Iceland-spar  or  Crystalline  Carbonate 

of  Lime. 

3.  A  fine  Crystal  of  Emerald  in  its  matrix  (see  p.  275). 


EXPLANATORY   LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS.  17 

4.  One  of  the  finest  Nuggets  of  Australian  Gold  (sec  p.  295). 

5.  A  very  beautiful  specimen  of  Capillary  or  hair-liko  Native  Silver  (see  p. 

299). 

6.  A  specimen  of  Malachite  or  Carbonate  of  Copper,  showing  the  concentric 

structure  (see  p.  304). 

7.  Crystals  of  Specular  Iron  Ore,  from  the  Island  of  Elba  (see  p.  307). 

8.  A  Crystal  of  Galena  (Sulphuret  of  Lead)  (see  p.  305). 


II.  DIAGRAMS. 

PAGB 

Section  through  an  Alluvial  Valley 39 

Effects  of  Ice  on  the  Banks  of  the  Dwina. 56 

The  Head  of  Earth,  the  Sand,  and  the  Clays  in  a  Brick-pit 137 

Section  from  London  to  Brighton 183 

Illustration  of  "  Faults" ~ 192 

Anticlinal  and  Synclinal  Axes « 195 


THE    BOOK    OF    NATURE. 


"  To  recount  almighty  works 
What  words  or  tongue  of  seraph  can  suffice, 
Or  heart  of  man  suffice  to  comprehend  ? 
Yet  what  thou  canst  attain,  which  best  may  serve 
To  glorify  thy  Maker,  and  infer 
Thee  also  happier,  shall  not  be  withheld 
Thy  hearing." 

PARADISE  LOST,  Bk.  vii.  lines  112-118. 


ALL  know  what  is  meant  by  the  Book  of  Nature. 
But  Nature  is  rather  a  Library  than  a  Book ;  for 
it  is  the  general  and  well-stored  receptacle  of  all 
that  has  ever  been  created, — of  all  that  we  know 
and  all  we  have  not  yet  learned, — of  all  that  is 
animate  and  all  that  is  inanimate, — of  all  that  is 
happening  and  all  that  has  happened,  not  only 
on  the  earth,  but  above  the  earth  and  within  it 
and  around  it.  Nothing  once  existing  has  entirely 
disappeared.  Every  thing  has  been  photographed, 
and  is  preserved  for  use  and  reference  somewhere 
and  somehow.  Every  year  something  is  discovered 
that  was  not  before  known ;  but  there  remains  so 
vast  an  amount  of  material  yet  unknown  and  unre- 
corded, that  we  may  be  quite  sure  it  will  never  be 
exhausted,  however  long  the  human  race  may  re- 
main on  the  earth,  or  however  highly  the  faculties 
of  man  may  be  developed. 

Nature  offers  many  of  her  books  for  our  study ; 

21 


22  THE   BOOK   OF   NATURE. 

for  every  department  of  knowledge,  large  or  small, 
may  be  looked  on  as  a  separate  volume.  Astro- 
nomy supplies  not  a  few,  Chemistry  many  more, 
Zoology  and  Botany  each  its  quota.  Of  these  a 
number  have  been  read  and  studied  with  more  or 
less  success.  In  a  few  cases  we  seem  to  have 
learnt  something  of  the  general  plan  of  Nature ; 
in  others,  mere  glimpses  are  made  out  of  local  and 
partial  phenomena.  Many  departments  have  only 
lately  attracted  attention;  many,  probably,  there 
are  which  are  not  yet  known  to  exist.  Some,  on 
the  other  hand,  have  been  in  course  of  development 
ever  since  man  was  an  intelligent  and  observing 
animal,  recording  his  own  experiences  for  the 
benefit  of  future  races. 

Of  all  this  vast  wealth  of  knowledge,  there  is  one 
book  that  long  escaped  notice  and  study,  although, 
since  it  was  first  opened  in  modern  times,  it  has 
attracted  so  much  attention,  and  been  so  exten- 
sively read,  that  its  name  and  some  of  its  contents 
are  familiar  to  all.  It  is  the  book  which  teaches 
us  concerning  the  structure  and  composition  of  the 
earth  we  live  on, — the  history  of  its  gradual  pro- 
gress, and  of  the  inhabitants  it  has  had  from  time  to 
time.  It  is,  in  a  word,  "The  Stone  Book."  The 


THE    BOOK   01   NATURE.  23 

leaves  are  the  various  and  successive  layers  of  earth 
and  rock  that  make  up  the  whole  solid  mass  laid 
bare  occasionally  in  the  cliff  and  the  quarry,  but 
generally  concealed  beneath  the  soil,  and  trodden 
negligently  under  foot;  its  pictures  are  the  pic- 
turesque remains  of  its  former  inhabitants,  now 
long  passed  away.  The  Stone  Book  is  the  science 
of  Geology. 

When  first  studied,  the  facts  of  Geology — the 
records  of  this  Stone  Book,  which  can  be  learnec1 
only  by  careful  personal  observation  and  an  ac- 
quaintance with  the  language  of  Nature — were 
comparatively  disregarded,  and  great  stress  was  laid 
on  inferences  and  theoretical  views  of  little  value, 
and  based  on  preconceived  notions.  It  is  so  in  all 
matters.  Ignorance  is  bold,  and  takes  high  but 
useless  flights ;  true  knowledge  is  modest,  and  limits 
her  flight  to  what  she  knows  she  can  accomplish 
safely.  Ignorance,  having  few  facts,  loses  sight  of 
all  in  her  endeavors  to  generalize ;  knowledge,  with 
many  facts,  finds  it  difficult  so  to  arrange  them  as  to 
obtain  the  conclusions  they  properly  warrant.  Even 
at  present,  those  who  study  Geology  are  often  more 
apt  to  generalize  than  to  study  detail ;  but  as  the 
facts  multiply  the  deductions  become  more  sound, 


24  THE   BOOK   OP   NATURE, 

though  at  the  same  time  more  difficult.  The  earth, 
however,  really  contains  its  own  history  within  itself. 
The  leaves  of  the  Stone  Book  may  be  carefully 
conned :  what  is  found  in  one  may  be  compared 
with  what  is  indicated  in  another ;  the  illustrations, 
ancient  and  modern,  may  be  studied;  and  if,  in 
this  as  in  many  other  books,  the  early  pages  should 
seem  dry  and  barren  of  incident,  still,  as  wTe  ad- 
vance, the  plot  thickens,  and  the  d&nouement,  when 
reached,  interests  us  all  directly  and  personally,  as 
well  as  tends  to  clear  up  early  obscurities  in  the 
history  of  Creation. 

By  the  opening  of  the  Stone  Book,  I  mean  the 
earliest  studies  of  the  earth  with  a  view  to  make 
out  its  history,  and  these  studies  teach  how  Nature 
speaks  rather  than  what  she  means.  First  of  all, 
we  must  learn  the  language,  and  even  study  the 
dialect,  if  we  may  so  far  carry  into  detail  our  lite- 
rary illustration.  And  this  is  so  because  here,  as  in 
various  sciences,  the  class  of  objects  to  be  studied, 
and  the  mode  of  studying  them,  must  be  governed 
by  circumstances.  In  Geology  it  is  very  necessary, 
in  almost  all  cases,  not  only  to  observe,  but  to  infer. 
In  order  to  infer,  careful  observations  must  first  be 
made,  and  thus  there  is  a  double  work  to  be  carried 


THE  BOOK   OF   NATUEE.  25 

on.  As  each  point  is  made  out,  and  each  fact  dis- 
covered, its  meaning  and  bearing  on  the  whole  must 
be  carefully  learnt;  and  all  these  bearings  being 
brought  together,  we  obtain  at  last  a  sound  basis 
on  which  to  rest  our  conclusions. 

There  is  but  one  way  in  which  Geology  can  be 
understood,  and  that  is  by  a  thorough  familiarity 
with  all  that  is  going  on  now,  both  in  the  animate 
and  inanimate  kingdoms  of  Nature.  These  repre- 
sent the  language  in  which  the  Stone  Book  is  writ- 
ten. We  may  open  the  book  at  random,  and  be 
astonished,  but  we  cannot  be  interested  or  instructed 
without  this :  for  what  is  any  one  the  wiser,  when 
he  or  she  has  merely  stared  with  astonishment  at  the 
strange  skeletons  in  the  British  Museum,  or  the  still 
more  strange  stony  monsters  perpetually  threaten- 
ing the  following  night's  repose  of  the  visitor  to  the 
gardens  of  the  Crystal  Palace  at  Sydenham  ?  He 
is  none  the  wiser  for  these  visions,  if  he  does  not 
know  how  and  where  the  bones  were  found,  accord- 
ing to  what  principles  the  skeleton  was  converted 
into  the  semblance  of  an  animal,  to  what  period 
of  the  earth's  history  they  belong,  and  what  rela- 
tion they  bear  to  existing  and  familiar  races.  What, 
again,  can  be  learned  at  the  seaside  by  the  exami- 


ZO  THE   BOOK   OF  NATUKE. 

nation  of  a  lofty  sea-worn  cliff,  showing  varieties  of 
rock  utterly  unlike  similar  rock  elsewhere,  and 
placed  in  all  kinds  of  impossible  positions,  if  we 
have  not  been  taught  what  is  now  being  done  in 
other  parts  of  the  world  that  may  result  in  a  similar 
cliff?  Who  can  understand  the  wonderful  columns 
of  Fingal's  Cave  in  Staffa,  or  the  Giants'  Cause- 
Way  on  the  coast  of  Ireland,  who  has  not  fami- 
liarized his  eye  to  similar  appearances,  where  their 
origin  is  more  manifest,  and  their  history  clearly 
made  out  ?  Experience  and  knowledge  can  alone 
guide  us  in  these  matters. 

When,  therefore,  we  speak  of  the  opening  of  the 
Stone  Book,  we  allude  to  all  those  inquiries  and 
considerations  that  are  preliminary  to  the  study  of 
Geology  properly  so  called.  How  few  persons, 
comparatively,  think  of  the  grand  operations  that 
are  always  going  on  around  us  !  These  operations 
are  silent,  but  they  are  incessant ;  and  most  of  us 
behave  as  if  the  things  that  go  on  every  day  with- 
out disturbance  were  not  really  going  on  at  all. 
The  regularity  of  a  change,  no  matter  what  its 
amount  may  be,  is  quite  sufficient  to  make  us  fancy 
that  there  is  no  change  at  all.  The  sun  shines,  the 
rain  falls,  the  wind  blows,  the  summer  and  winter 


THE    BOOK   OP    NATURE.  27 

succeed  each  other,  and  we  grow  old,  fancying  all 
the  time  that  there  is  no  difference,  and  little  aware 
that  all  Nature  is  getting  older  as  well  as  ourselves, 
and  that  nothing  of  us,  and  little  that  is  around  us, 
is  the  same,  in  a  material  sense,  to-day  as  it  was  a 
few  years  ago.  The  times  change,  and  we  change 
with  the  times ;  and  because  all  change  together, 
we  act  and  talk  as  if  there  were  no  change  at  all. 

Geology  is  a  history  of  the  earth, — a  history  of 
what  it  was,  and  of  how  it  became  what  it  is, — a 
history  of  the  successive  events  in  its  progress,  of 
the  succession  of  plants  and  animals  that  have  oc- 
cupied it-  To  learn  the  history,  we  must  know  the 
causes  that  have  operated ;  and  thus  we  are  thrown 
directly  upon  the  study  of  existing  causes  of  change. 
For  a  long  time,  no  one  seemed  to  imagine  that  a 
study  of  what  goes  on  now  could  help  us  to  an  un- 
derstanding of  the  earth's  early  history.  But,  if 
not  that,  what  could  ?  What  can  we  know  of  forces 
concerning  which  we  have  no  experience?  How 
can  we  judge  of  the  effect  of  a  rush  of  water,  with- 
out measuring  the  effect  of  the  nearest  approach  to 
a  deluge  that  comes  within  our  experience  ? 

To  understand  any  thing  of  rocks,  we  must  learn 
how  they  have  been  formed ;  and  to  learn  this,  we 


28  THE    BOOK    OF    NATURE. 

must  look  out  for  the  nearest  approach  to  such  form- 
ations at  present.  So,  also,  to  understand  fossils, 
which  are  the  remains  of  former  animals  and  vege- 
tables, we  must  study  animals  and  vegetables  now 
living.  The  present  is  the  key  of  the  past. 

Strictly  speaking,  the  language  in  which  Geology 
is  written  is  a  picture-language,  and  the  pictures 
are  the  events  going  on  around  us,  according  to  the 
ordinary  course  of  Nature.  The  river  and  the  sea, 
the  heat  and  the  frost,  the  heavy  rain  and  the  con- 
tinual drought,  all  afford  illustrations.  In  the  same 
way,  illustrations  are  derived  from  the  plants  and  ani- 
mals characteristic  of  our  own  and  other  countries. 

As  in  all  cases  where  Nature  is  to  be  studied,  it 
is  of  singularly  small  consequence  where  or  how  the 
study  begins.  Every  one  in  his  own  neighbor- 
hood may  find  enough  to  amuse,  enough  to  suggest 
thought,  enough  to  instruct,  and  enough  to  puzzle. 
Who  is  there  who  cannot,  within  a  day's  excursion, 
find  some  cliff,  some  railway  cutting  or  tunnel,  the 
bed  of  some  stream,  some  quarry,  or  some  pit,  to 
study  ?  Even  the  sinkings  made  for  the  foundation 
of  a  house  or  church,  or  any  public  work,  are  often 
sufficient.  Wherever  and  whenever  we  can  see 
below  the  vegetable  soil — whether  reaching  gravel, 


THE    BOOK   OF    NATURE,  29 

or  sand,  or  stone  of  any  kind— there  will  be  some 
instructive  lesson  afforded. 

Let  us  proceed,  then,  first,  to  consider  what  these 
common  appearances  mean,  and  thus  become  familiar 
with  the  hieroglyphic  language  in  which  so  much 
of  the  Stone  Book  is  written.  We  may  then  with 
advantage  study  the  various  materials — the  rocks, 
as  they  are  called — which  make  up  the  part  of  the 
earth  presented  for  our  investigation. 

There  are  certain  appearances  and  facts  so  fa- 
miliar to  all  that  they  are  seldom  thought  of,  as 
being  themselves  only  agents  in  the  great  work  of 
Nature.  It  is,  perhaps,  the  perfection  of  Nature 
that,  in  all  stages  of  her  progress,  she  exhibits  at 
the  same  time,  in  different  places,  the  birth  or  first 
beginning  of  her  great  operations,  her  work  fully 
developed  and  in  perfect  condition,  and  the  same 
work  in  a  state  of  commencing  decay.  The  purpose 
for  which  it  was  adapted  having  been  accomplished, 
the  completion  of  each  one  operation  generally 
serves  as  the  commencement  of  a  still  larger  pro- 
gress in  another.  An  illustration  from  Astronomy 
will  render  this  more  clear.  Our  earth  of  itself 
gives  us,  in  all  points,  a  perfect  habitation, — perfect 

in  its  history  of  the  past,  perfect  in  its  adaptation 
3* 


30  THE    BOOK    OF    NATURE. 

to  the  present.  All  is  in  order  and  harmony,  and 
for  long  ages  men  believed,  naturally  enough,  that 
their  habitation  was  the  central  and  only  object  of 
God's  care.  They  thought  the  sun  was  made  to 
light  them  alone  by  day,  and  the  moon  to  shine  at 
night  only  for  their  benefit, — that  the  twinkling 
light  of  the  countless  stars  served  only  to  give  a 
faint  addition  to  their  night's  glory,  and  that  the 
occasional  comet  rushed  through  space  merely  to 
warn  them  of  coming  danger,  or  astonish  and  dis- 
turb them.  They  were  right  in  one  sense ;  for  all 
these  are,  no  doubt,  real  purposes,  except,  perhaps, 
the  last.  But  they  thought  not  of  the  earth  being 
one  only  of  a  group  of  similar  bodies,  performing 
a  part  in  Nature  comparatively  very  small, — that 
myriads  of  suns  existed  which  they  saw  not,  and 
perhaps  many  more  myriads  of  bodies  which  they 
never  will  see  or  know  of,  so  long  as  they  remain 
mortal, — that  the  sun  served  other  earths  besides 
this,  and  that  the  earth  may  be  as  useful  to  the 
moon  and  stars,  and  even  to  the  sun  and  comet,  as 
these  are  to  the  earth.  The  whole  of  the  earth's 
history  may  be  but  as  a  day  in  the  history  of  the 
universe,  though  each  fraction  of  a  moment  of  that 
day  is  fraught  with  important  results  to  every  one 


THE    BOOK   OF   NATURE.  31 

of  us.  It  is  not,  indeed,  on  that  account  less  real 
and  significant,  or  less  perfect.  On  the  contrary,  it 
is  more  perfect,  and  perfect  in  a  higher  sense,  and 
is  far  more  significant.  Every  part  illustrates  the 
great  whole ;  every  fact  in  Nature  helps  to  explain 
every  other  fact ;  and  by  continually  learning  more 
and  more  about  the  particular  planet  which  was  at 
their  disposal,  astronomers  have  at  length  succeeded 
in  gaining  important  and  definite  knowledge  about 
the  distant  bodies  which  they  can  only  approach  at 
second-hand. 

And  just  so  it  is  with  Geology.  Every  day's  his- 
tory is  the  key  and  the  clue  to  the  history  of  ages 
long  since  past.  By  searching  out  the  meaning  and 
object  of  the  small  and  apparently  unimportant 
changes  that  are  produced  by  the  ordinary  action 
of  familiar  causes  and  known  modes  of  operation, 
the  nature  of  a  deposit  of  mud,  the  conversion  of 
m  d  into  stone,  the  change  of  stone  into  some  other 
s  stance  or  some  other  kind  of  stone,  have  been 
successively  made  out.  The  history  has  been  ob- 
tained by  comparing  and  studying  familiar  things. 

And  of  all  familiar  causes,  those  that  are  produced 
by  moving  water  and  changes  of  temperature  are 
incalculably  the  greatest.  Others  are  occasional, 


32  THE   BOOK    OF   NATURE. 

but  these  never  cease ;  others  may  be  larger  and 
more  active  at  certain  times  or  in  certain  places, 
these  go  on  at  all  times  and  in  all  places.  Thus  the 
river-bed  and  the  sea-beach,  as  illustrations  of  the 
influence  of  sun  and  rain,  wind  and  frost,  afford 
admirable  first  lessons  in  Geology.  They  teach  the 
alphabet  and  grammar  of  the  language  of  our  Stone 
Book.  They  cannot  be  too  often  looked  to,  or  too 
much  thought  of. 

It  may  seem  that  the  only  means  of  obtaining 
access  to  the  earth's  interior  must  require  some 
operations  of  digging  or  quarrying.  No  doubt  the 
laying  bare  the  framework  of  Nature,  by  breaking 
through  the  outer  shell  or  crust,  is  calculated  to 
teach  us  much  useful  information ;  but  we  shall  see, 
as  we  go  on,  that  there  are  other  and  sometimes 
readier  methods  of  opening  the  book  than  by  the 
use  of  the  hammer  and  wedge,  the  pick  and  the 
gad.  Many  and  good  lessons  may  be  learnt,  and 
the  early  pages  of  Nature's  Book  may  be  studied 
to  advantage,  even  where  mines  and  quarries  are 
not  easily  accessible. 


J  1  .-x^V-     - 


THE  GREAT  STONE  BOOK. 

PART  I. 


Chapter  %  <4first 

THE   RIVER-BED   AND   THE   SEA-BEACH. 

FAR  away  among  the  distant  hills  are  the  first  trace 
of  the  great  river  that  rolls  along  so  grandly  as  it  nears 
the  sea,  carrying  on  its  broad  bosom  the  ships  that  come 
and  go  and  help  to  communicate  with  all  parts  of  the 
world.  Very  clear  and  bright  is  the  water  that  first 
bubbles  out  of  the  earth  and  runs  along  the  narrow  rocky 
bed.  You  might  step  across  it  easily  there,  and  walk 
up  through  the  stream  without  wetting  your  ankles.  A 
little  further  on,  indeed,  there  begin  to  be  holes,  in 
which  speckled  trout  love  to  take  shelter;  and  further 
on  still  is  the  first  mill,  near  where  the  country  opens 
out  at  the  foot  of  the  hills,  and  now  villages  are  seen,  and 
corn-fields  and  orchards.  Afterwards  other  streams  join 
the  growing  river :  each  individually  is  small,  but  each 
helps  to  increase  the  supply  of  water ;  and  as  the  river 
flows  onwards  it  becomes  gradually  wider  and  deeper, 
and  moves  with  a  more  even  and  regular  pace,  utilized  all 
the  way,  either  to  drive  wheels  or  to  irrigate  the  soil,  or 
else  made  to  branch  off  into  some  canal,  on  which  the 
barges  are  constantly  travelling,  laden  with  the  produce 
of  the  interior  or  carrying  into  the  country  various  ar- 
ticle? brought  from  the  sea-coast. 

35 


00  LANGUAGE   OF   THE   BOOK. 

The  history  of  a  river  is  often  a  simple  statement  of 
this  kind,  commencing  as  a  spring  of  living  water,  gush- 
ing from  a  hill-side,  and  finding  its  way  in  some  natural 
channel  over  the  surface.  By  small  degrees  and  success- 
ive additions  it  becomes  a  considerable  body  of  water, 
flowing  along  a  well-defined  channel  and  draining  a  large 
tract  of  country.  Occasionally,  it  meets  with  obstacles, 
and  is  swollen  into  a  lake,  or  it  leaps  over  a  cataract 
before  it  leaves  the  hills;  and  sometimes,  after  having 
long  occupied  a  sufficient  channel,  it  enters  a  rocky  or 
mountain  gorge,  where  it  hurries  along  over  rapids,  or 
dashes  with  resistless  force  down  a  precipice  into  the 
valley  below. 

At  a  certain  point  in  its  course,  our  river,  as  it  ap- 
proaches the  sea,  meets  a  body  of  salt  water  forced  up  by 
the  tide,  and  there  the  salt  water,  alternately  forced  for- 
ward and  carried  backwards  beneath  the  fresh,  produces 
a  corresponding  tide  of  fresh  water,  interfering  with  the 
otherwise  uniform  course  of  the  river's  current.  When 
the  fresh  water  enters  the  sea,  it  floats  for  some  time 
before  it  becomes  so  far  mixed  with  the  salt  as  to  form  a 
common  part  of  the  great  ocean. 

Throughout  its  course,  whether  amounting  only  to  a 
few  miles  or  continuing  for  hundreds  of  miles,  the  water 
is  constantly  running.  Whence  comes  this  large  supply, 
and  how  is  it  that  the  river  never  ceases  its  flow  to  the 
sea,  and  in  many  countries  never  seems  to  alter  much  in 
the  depth  or  width  of  its  channel?  The  small  spring 
that  forms  the  source  would  not,  if  multiplied  a  thou- 
sand times,  fill  this  wide  and  deep  channel.  It  is  in  fact; 
by  an  almost  infinite  multitude  of  small  streamlets  enter- 


THE   RIVER-BED   AND    THE    SEA-BEACH.  37 

ing,  after  every  shower  of  rain,  from  all  the  gutters  and 
puddles  and  drains,  not  only  into  the  river  itself,  but 
into  all  the  smaller  rivulets  that  feed  it,  that  the  great 
body  of  water  is  obtained  that  finds  its  way  to  the  sea. 
Every  shower  thus  helps  to  feed  the  river,  and  the  rain 
that  falls  is  sure  to  find  some  ready  means  of  getting 
back  to  the  great  reservoir  from  which  it  originally  came. 

If  we  look  at  the  river  after  wet  weather,  we  find  it 
muddy :  the  water  is  loaded  with  particles  of  the  soil, 
and  these  are  carried  along  as  far  as  we  can  see.  We 
know  that  the  mountain-rill  and  the  trout-stream  are 
clear  and  bright,  for  we  can  see  every  pebble  at  the 
bottom ;  and  we  might  be  at  a  loss  to  know  how  the  mud 
came  into  the  water,  if  it  were  not  for  the  explanation 
just  given.  The  soil  is  washed  into  the  river,  and  part 
of  it  is  carried  by  the  river  a  long  way. 

Now  let  us  look  at  the  bottom  or  bed  of  the  river. 
Near  its  source  it  consists  of  large,  broken,  rough  stones 
— often  huge  masses  of  granite,  or  limestone,  or  sand- 
stone; and  if  we  watch  for  a  few  seasons,  we  shall  see 
that  these  do  not  remain  in  the  same  place.  They  are 
carried  down,  perhaps,  only  a  few  yards  in  a  year,  but 
still  they  move.  We  do  not  suppose  that  the  force  of 
the  stream  is  strong  enough  to  carry  them  along,  for  we 
can  easily  keep  back  the  water  by  the  hand,  but  could 
not  with  any  effort  move  the  larger  stones.  The  stream, 
however,  works  insidiously  and  undermines  as  it  goes 
along;  for  the  water  is  always  moving  a  multitude  of 
small  stones  on  which  the  larger  blocks  rest,  and  from 
time  to  time,  their  floor  being  taken  away,  they  tumble 
over — the  direction  they  take  in  falling  being  always 

4 


38  LANGUAGE   OF    THE   BOOK. 

governed  by  that  in  which  the  water  is  going.  Being  con- 
stantly rolled  over  and  over,  and  knocked  against  by 
other  stones,  they  are  often  broken,  and  as  they  get  down 
the  stream  they  become  smaller  and  smaller,  being  more 
easily  and  frequently  rolled  over  and  broken,  till  at  last 
they  are  reduced  to  pebbles,  whose  edges  are  rounded 
and  almost  polished  by  being  rubbed  constantly  one 
against  another.  While  these  pebbles  are  being  made, 
the  smaller  particles  are  converted  into  still  smaller  stones 
and  sand.  This  is  the  way  in  which  the  bed  of  the 
brook  and  mountain  stream  is  produced.  It  is  a  mixture 
of  sand  and  stones  of  all  sizes  and  shapes,  and  the  whole 
of  it  has  been  obtained  by  slow  degrees  from  rocks, 
which  were  at  first  hard,  solid  masses,  just  like  those  we 
now  find  it  so  troublesome  to  climb  over  to  get  at  the  top 
of  the  hill. 

The  bed  of  the  river  lower  down  is  made  up  nearly  in 
the  same  way,  only  instead  of  stones  the  mud  is  brought 
in  from  the  clay  lands  on  the  banks.  More  clay  than 
sand  is  carried  along  by  the  water,  because  the  particles 
of  clay  are  smaller,  and  do  not  sink  so  fast  as  the  large 
pieces  of  stone.  It  is  not  that  the  clay  is  really  lighter 
than  the  stone,  because  if  you  take  a  hard  lump  of  clay 
and  throw  it  into  a  basin  it  will  sink  to  the  bottom  as 
fast  as  any  stone,  but  if  you  mix  it  well  up  the  water  will 
look  dirty.  After  a  time  all  the  little  particles  of  mud 
will,  however,  sink,  and  the  water  will  clear  again. 

The  water  carries  along  the  mud  and  stones  with  it, 
and  the  faster  it  flows  the  further  of  course  they  travel. 
At  last,  if  the  river  enters  a  lake  and  ceases  to  run  so 
fast,  they  sink  down,  and  the  river  runs  clear  from  the 


THE   RIVER-BED   AND   THE    SEA-BEACH.  39 

other  end ;  but  if  the  river  flows  on  to  the  sea  the  mud 
goes  with  the  water,  dropping  as  it  goes,  but  always  sup- 
plied again  at  every  mile  from  the  banks  on  each  side, 
till  at  last  the  fresh  water  approaches  the  great  body  of 
salt  water  in  the  sea.  As  the  sea  only  rises  and  falls 
with  the  tide,  except  where  the  tide  runs  up  the  river, 
there  are  no  longer  the  means  of  carrying  on  the  mud, 
and  it  sinks  to  the  bottom. 

Do  you  see  now  what  all  this  comes  to  ?  The  river 
receives  muddy  water,  sand,  and  stones,  and  carries  all 
these  along  a  little  way;  but  as  it  is  always  receiving 
some,  and  always  letting  some  sink,  and  always  carrying 
some  along  to  the  sea,  where  it  all  stops,  the  bed  of  the 
river  must  be  constantly  getting  higher  and  higher,  and 
at  the  mouth  of  the  river  there  must  be  a  great  heap  of 
mud,  which  the  river  has  been  bringing  down  ever  since 
it  was  a  river. 


SECTION  THROUGH  AN  ALLUVIAL  VALLEY. 

a.  The  hard  rock  eaten  through  to  form  the  valley. 
6.  The  alluvial  mud  deposited  by  the  stream, 
c.  The  present  bed  of  the  river. 

If  you  look  at  the  banks  of  a  river  you  will  generally 
find,  as  marked  in  the  cut  annexed,  that  they  are  made 
of  nearly  the  same  kind  of  mud  as  the  bottom  or  bed : 
at  least,  this  is  the  case  near  the  mouth  of  the  river,  and 
where  it  runs  through  open  country.  In  these  cases, 


40  LANGUAGE   OP   THE    BOOK. 

what  are  now  the  banks  have  been  at  one  time  the  bottom ; 
and  though  there  seems  no  change,  the  channel  of  the 
river,  or  the  hollow  space  along  which  the  water  runs, 
is  constantly  shifting — perhaps  only  a  few  inches  in 
a  year,  but  still  enough  to  keep  the  course  clear.  The 
current  of  the  water  is  always  strong  enough  to  eat 
away  part  of  the  banks  or  the  bed  to  make  room  for 
itself. 

The  surface  of  a  country  is  everywhere  connected  with 
some  one  or  other  of  the  rivers  running  through  the 
country,  and  the  whole  is  constantly  being  pared  away. 
It  is  true  that  the  process  is  slow,  but  it  is  incessant ; 
and  the  mud  thus  moved  is  heaped  up  at  the  mouths  of 
the  rivers,  tending  to  extend  the  land  horizontally,  giving 
a  larger  surface  and  reducing  the  elevations. 

This  is  a  great  lesson  in  Geology.  Over  the  whole 
world  the  hills  and  mountains  are  being  gradually  moved 
away  bodily,  and  lowered  by  degrees,  because  of  the  rain 
which  falls  on  them  and  runs  off  to  form  the  rivers  ;  and 
the  stones  and  mud  carried  away  help  to  fill  up  the  sea. 
This  is  the  inevitable  effect  of  rain,  and  it  is  not  a  small 
effect,  for  the  whole  of  Holland  is  entirely  formed  by 
the  mud  thus  brought  down  by  the  river  Rhine;  the 
greater  part  of  Lower  Egypt,  the  most  ancient  agricul- 
tural country  in  the  world,  was  deposited  in  the  same 
way  by  the  Nile ;  an  enormous  country  in  India  is  the 
result  of  deposits  left  behind  by  the  Ganges;  and,  in 
America,  the  city  of  New  Orleans  is  built  on  mud  which 
the  Mississippi  has  brought  down  from  the  interior  of 
the  continent  it  drains.  Every  day  throughout  the  year 
does  this  great  river  throw  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 


THE   RIVER-BED    AND    THE    SEA-BEACH.  41 

sufficient  mud  to  make  a  conical  hill  half  a  mile  round 
at  the  bottom  and  sixty  feet  high. 

Let  the  reader  endeavor  to  imagine  what  this  would 
have  been  if  the  mud  had  really  been  collected  and 
piled  in  heaps  half  a  mile  apart.  In  the  course  of  a 
thousand  years  these  hills  would  have  occupied  a  space 
as  large  as  the  whole  of  the  British  Islands,  France, 
Belgium,  and  Holland.  And  yet  the  Mississippi  is  but 
one  of  the  great  rivers  of  the  earth ;  and  all  the  others, 
whether  great  or  small,  are  always  doing  similar  work, — 
some  of  them,  perhaps,  at  a  more  rapid  rate. 

The  river-bed,  then,  is  not  to  be  despised.  It  repre- 
sents the  result  of  running  streams  in  removing  solid 
matter  all  over  the  earth,  and  a  little  consideration  shows 
that  a  great  deal  of  such  work  is  done. 

But  it  must  not  be  supposed  that,  having  looked  at  the 
beds  and  banks  of  rivers,  we  have  seen  all  the  effect  of 
moving  water.  Almost  everywhere  there  is  a  wide  space 
of  comparatively  flat  land  near  the  river,  particularly 
during  the  latter  part  of  its  course,  and  all  this,  too,  has 
been  produced  by  the  same  cause,  though  completed  long 
ago.  Even  far  up  steep  mountains,  and  away  from  all 
rivers,  there  are  often  flat  patches  of  cultivated  land,  and 
occasionally  bogs  and  marshes;  while  many  rocks,  ex- 
posed to  the  action  of  running  water,  and  formerly  bare, 
are  now  thickly  covered  with  vegetable  soil.  Almost 
everywhere  we  may  see,  by  a  little  careful  examination, 
some  of  the  changes  that  have  been  produced  on  the  land 
by  this  powerful  agent,  many  of  them  commenced  and 
completed  within  even  that  short  time  during  which  we 
have  any  good  maps,  or  an  account  we  can  depend  upon. 

4* 


42  LANGUAGE    OP   THE   BOOK. 

The  sea-beach  is  covered  with  pebbles  and  coarse  sand, 
and  sometimes  with  very  fine  sand  and  mud,  wherever 
the  bare,  naked  rocks  do  not  present  a  strong  wall  against 
the  inroads  of  the  waves.  But  the  sea-beach  is  not  quite 
like  the  river-bed :  the  pebbles  are  rounder,  more  uni- 
form, and  more  abundant,  the  broken  rocks  more  jagged, 
the  sands  more  shifting,  the  mud  is  not  of  the  same 
kind;  and  altogether  there  is  a  sufficient  difference  to 
enable  any  geologist  to  say  at  once,  if  taken  to  a  natural 
heap  of  gravel  or  bed  of  mud,  to  which  cause  the  heap- 
ing together  was  due.  Sea-beaches  are  found  sometimes 
inland,  so  that  the  difference  requires  to  be  learned  by 
the  young  geologist. 

Most  persons  have  listened,  at  Brighton  or  elsewhere, 
to  the  peculiar  and  incessant  roar  of  the  sea  as  it  breaks 
upon  a  pebble  shore.  Along  many  miles  of  beach  the 
restless  waves  are  always  either  advancing  or  receding, 
according  as  the  tide  is  rising  or  falling,  and  every  wave 
carries  backwards  and  forwards  a  certain  breadth  of 
pebbles,  which  are  then  made  to  roll  over  each  other 
with  some  force.  Now,  if  stones  are  rubbed  together  the 
corners  are  knocked  off,  and  they  become  at  last  smooth 
and  round,  and  it  is  in  this  way  that  all  pebbles  are 
produced.  The  particles  broken  from  them  form  sand  ; 
and  as  there  is  thus  a  constant  tendency  to  grind  the 
.sea-pebbles  into  sand,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  in  a 
short  time  they  would  all  be  worn  away,  if  there  were 
not  an  ample  supply  constantly  provided.  It  is  a  curious 
question  where  the  new  pebbles  come  from,  and  one  not 
always  easily  answered.  Generally,  however,  we  can 
trace  them  readily  enough  to  the  rocks  not  far  off.  .Just 


THE   RIVER-BED   AND    THE    SEA-BEACH.  43 

as  the  blocks  in  the  river-bed  get  broken  up  and  carried 
away,  so  those  that  fall  from  the  cliffs  into  the  sea  are 
turned,  after  a  time,  into  smaller  stones  and  sand.  Where 
the  whole  rock  is  hard  the  quantity  of  sand  is  small,  but 
where  the  rock  is  soft,  even  if  it  contains  hard  lumps, 
there  will  be  a  great  deal  of  sand  or  mud,  or  both,  to 
mix  with  the  pebbles.  But  the  mud  is  easily  removed, 
and  is  generally  carried  into  sheltered  nooks,  where  the 
tide  has  little  force,  and  where  the  water  is  still.  Wher- 
ever water  is  left  undisturbed  the  mud  will  sink  and 
be  found  at  the  bottom,  leaving  the  water  itself  clear  and 
transparent. 

Very  large  and  deep  accumulations  of  gravel  and  sand 
exist  near  the  sea,  and  wells  are  often  dug  in  such  gravel, 
in  places  where  one  would  suppose  the  sea  had  never 
been.  But  a  heap  of  well-rounded  beach-pebbles  must 
have  been  brought  to  their  shape  and  rolled  about  in 
water,  so  that  we  are  obliged  to  suppose  either  that  the 
sea  has  left  that  part  of  the  shore,  or  else  that  the  whole 
body  of  the  land  thereabouts  has  been  upheaved  from 
below;  unless,  indeed  (which  is  perhaps  sometimes  the 
case),  the  pebbles  and  sand  have  been  gradually  thrown 
up  until  they  formed  a  kind  of  natural  wall  which  the 
waves  do  not  break  through  except  on  very  extraordinary 
occasions.  The  water  in  the  ocean  is  just  like  that  in  a 
trough  or  cistern,  the  surface  of  which  cannot  for  any 
time  be  kept  aslant.  It  is  one  of  the  properties  of  all 
liquids  to  come  to  a  level  wherever  they  are  placed,  and 
so  the  sea  must  ever  retain  its  level,  one  part  not  remain- 
ing permanently  lower  on  any  coast,  unless,  indeed,  the 
whole  body  of  water  in  the  ocean  were  to  diminish  or 


44  LANGUAGE    OF   THE   BOOK. 

become  lowered  by  the  deepening  of  its  bed ;  and  of  this 
we  should  have  independent  proof. 

Almost  everywhere,  then,  in  the  neighborhood  of  all 
the  rivers  and  little  streams,  by  the  sea-side,  and  even  in 
the  open  country  of  some  parts  of  the  world,  there  is  a 
constant  movement  and  shifting  of  the  earth's  surface. 
There  is  a  proverb  which  says,  "  continual  dropping  will 
wear  away  stone,"  and  it  is  perfectly  true  in  every  sense ; 
for  where  water  is  constantly  dropping  or  running  or 
beating,  by  the  action  of  the  waves,  stone,  however  hard, 
is  gradually  but  surely  worn  away,  while  sands  and  mud 
are  eaten  into  very  fast.  But  water  is  wonderfully  helped 
in  all  these  cases  by  the  rubbing  together  of  the  stones 
themselves,  which  at  first  it  may  only  be  just  able  to 
move,  but  which  are  soon  rolled  over  and  over;  and  since 
the  water  never  gets  tired  of  doing  its  work,  but  takes 
advantage  of  every  little  chance  that  comes  in  its  way, 
we  find  that,  however  slow  the  process  at  first,  an  im- 
pression is  soon  made,  and  in  time  the  hardest  granite  is 
turned  into  the  finest  mud,  and  nothing  can  resist  so 
indefatigable  an  instrument.  It  must  be  remembered, 
too,  that  the  rain  of  to-day,  falling  on  the  ground  clear 
and  running  off  by  a  dirty  puddle,  becomes  the  cloud  of 
to-morrow  by  the  process  of  evaporation,  but  leaves  the 
mud  behind.  Passing  through  the  air,  it  may  fall  again 
in  rain  at  some  other  place ;  so  that  if  it  has  not  a  long 
course,  and  does  not  on  each  occasion  perform  a  large 
task,  it  at  any  rate  is  soon  ready  to  recommence  its  work. 
If  it  runs  long  over  the  earth  it  is  always  helping  to 
move  solid  matter,  and  when  it  retires  into  the  bosom  of 
the  ocean  it  is  still  never  at  rest.  There  is,  indeed,  no 


THE   RIVER-BED   AND    THE    SEA-BEACH.  45 

such  a  thing  as  rest  for  water,  even  for  a  moment,  for 
water  is  always  in  circulation  here  and  there  and  every- 
where,— in  the  sea,  in  the  river,  in  the  air,  on  the  earth, 
and  even  within  the  earth.  Not  only  is  it  never  quiet, 
but  it  is  always  helping  to  move  and  disturb  and  destroy 
all  other  created  matter. 

This  account  of  what  water  does  in  the  river  and  on 
the  sea-beach  clears  up  wonderfully  some  of  the  great 
mysteries  of  Geology.  In  Geology  we  have  to  examine 
large  results,  and  we  cannot  judge  of  them  at  all  with- 
out knowing  something  of  the  operations  now  going  on 
upon  the  earth,  since  these  afford  the  only  means  of 
comparison  open  to  us.  In  all  these  water  is  an  import- 
ant agent.  It  acts  very  widely  and  very  powerfully, — 
without  ceasing,  and  often  without  much  noise.  Its 
effects  are  easily  overlooked,  and  not  very  easily  done 
justice  to,  so  that  there  is  little  fear  of  its  real  import- 
ance being  estimated  too  highly. 

If  we  would  learn  the  ordinary  language  of  Nature, 
we  must  study  the  familiar  expression  of  her  ways  as 
events  pass  on  from  hour  to  hour,  from  day  to  day,  and 
from  year  to  year,  with  a  true  regularity,  and  even 
monotony,  in  the  midst  of  the  greatest  apparent  irregu- 
larity. To  do  this,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  consider 
the  effect  of  water  as  it  circulates  through  the  earth,  as 
it  passes  from  the  sea  to  the  sky,  and  as  it  returns  in 
refreshing  showers  from  the  sky  to  the  earth,  and  so 
back  again  to  the  ocean.  It  is  this  circulation  more  than 
any  thing  that  serves  as  the  means  of  communication — 
the  connecting  link — between  the  power  and  the  con- 
veyer of  power.  It  is  to  the  ordinary  force  of  running 


46  LANGUAGE    OF   THE    BOOK. 

water  that  we  must  refer  many  changes  apparently  far 
too  great  to  be  thus  brought  about.  It  is  to  this  that  we 
must  ultimately  refer,  even  when  many  other  causes  act, 
each  of  which  apparently  is  much  more  powerful. 

The  river-bed  and  the  sea-beach,  inasmuch  as  they 
illustrate  the  ordinary  action  of  running  water,  are  be- 
yond a  doubt  the  most  instructive  and  the  most  interest- 
ing of  all  the  studies  preliminary  to  Geology ;  but,  after 
all,  they  represent  only  one  of  several  ways  in  which 
water  acts  upon  .the  earth.  They  do  not  include  the 
results  of  changes  of  temperature  on  substances  contain- 
ing water,  nor  do  they  refer  to  the  action  of  ice.  Let 
us  pursue  the  subject,  then,  a  little  further  in  another 
chapter. 


THE  SUN,  THE  WIND,  THE  RAIN,  AND  THE  FROST. 

THE  brook  and  the  wave  break  up  the  large  stones  that 
fall  into  the  bed  of  the  one  from  the  mountain-side,  or 
come  under  the  action  of  the  other  on  or  near  the  shore. 
But  how  do  the  large  stones  first  become  loosened  from 
the  rock,  and  what  are  the  causes  of  so  much  material 
being  supplied  to  make  pebbles,  sand,  and  mud  ?  If  we 
watch  the  mountain-side  or  the  sea-cliff,  we  may  obtain 
an  answer  to  these  questions. 

After  a  long  dry  season  the  earth  is  parched  and 
cracked  at  the  surface,  clays  gaping  with  wide  fissures, 
and  some  other  rocks,  such  as  sandstones,  showing  open 
splits  of  considerable  depth.  In  warm  countries  these 
are  several  feet  wide  and  some  yards  deep;  but  even  in 
England,  though  rarely  so  wide,  being  measured  by 
inches  instead  of  feet,  they  penetrate  some  distance. 
This  is  evidently  the  effect  of  the  sun's  heat  in  drying 
and  so  contracting  the  surface  of  rocks.  Some  things 
swell  with  heat  and  become  softened,  but  earth  and  rocks 
losing  their  moisture  shrink  and  get  harder,  as  any  one 
may  satisfy  himself  by  a  little  observation. 

But  after  long  drought  comes  a  shower  of  rain  :  the 

rain  pours  down  at  once  into  the  cracks,  and  penetrates 

47 


48  LANGUAGE    OF    THE    BOOK. 

far  down  into  the  interior  of  the  rock.  The  part  first 
moistened  cools  and  swells,  and  acts  as  a  kind  of  wedge, 
splitting  the  whole  into  pieces  if  the  rock  is  at  all  brittle. 
Down  come  large  fragments  tumbling  into  the  bed  of  the 
stream;  other  detached  blocks  rest  for  a  time  on  the 
hill-side,  while  others  come  within  the  influence  of  the 
sea,  falling  at  the  foot  of  the  cliff,  and  these  before  long 
are  all  broken  up  into  smaller  stones  and  converted  into 
pebbles  or  mud. 

But  it  is  not  only  in  summer  that  the  rocks  fall  to  pieces 
and  feed  the  rivers  and  the  sea.  Long-continued  rain  at 
any  time  penetrates  through  the  crevices  of  rocks  and  soft- 
ens the  muddy  and  clayey  parts,  so  that  the  harder  upper 
beds  slip  down  over  the  lower  ones  and  fall  into  the 
valley  below,  where  they  are  allowed  to  disintegrate  slowly 
in  the  air,  or  are  rapidly  broken  up  by  the  water.  The 
same  result  follows :  the  work  begun  by  the  sun  or 
the  rain  is  finished  by  the  river  or  the  sea,  and  the  earth 
'is  pared  of  yet  more  of  its  surface. 

When  the  winter  comes  the  effect  is  similar,  but  still 
greater.  Water  swells  a  little  when  it  is  about  to  freeze, 
as  most  people  know  who  have  left  a  narrow-necked  jug 
full  of  water  exposed  in  winter  weather.  Almost  every 
night,  therefore,  for  some  months  of  the  year  in  temper- 
ate climates,  there  is  a  continual  swelling  out  and  shrink- 
ing in  of  the  water  in  rocks,  as  far  as  the  weather  can 
penetrate.  At  last,  towards  spring,  the  heavy  rains  come 
once  more  and  wash  down  into  the  lower  depths  the 
whole  top  of  the  rock,  which  is  then  in  a  state  to  fall  to 
pieces  on  the  slightest  disturbance. 

It  might  be  supposed  .that,  with  all  this   movement 


SUN,   WIND,   RAIN,   AND   FROST.  49 

constantly  going  on,  the  whole  face  of  a  country  would 
be  changed  every  year,  so  that  it  would  be  difficult  to 
know  where  the  landmarks  had  been  placed.  It  must  be 
remembered,  however,  that  in  cultivated  countries — 
where  the  land  is  drained,  where  roads  and  hedges  inter- 
sect the  fields,  and  where  men  do  all  they  can  to  prevent 
injury  to  the  surface — the  effect  is  comparatively  small. 
Even  in  places  where  men  do  not  grow  crops,  a  natural 
covering  of  wood  or  grass  is  a  very  great  protection  to 
the  surface, — the  roots  binding  the  soil  together,  and 
checking  that  wearing  away  that  would  otherwise  be  pro- 
duced by  the  rain.  It  is  only  where  the  ground  is 
uncultivated  that  the  full  effect  is  seen ;  and  even  then 
the  first  change,  which  turns  the  hard  rock  into  a  rotten 
earthy  soil,  will  in  many  cases  check  further  destruction, 
if  the  soil  is  not  at  once  carried  off  by  the  rain. 

At  the  same  time  it  will  be  evident  that  near  the  sea, 
or  in  hills  and  mountains  where  rivers  take  their  rise,  and 
where  there  are  steep  cliffs,  there  will  generally  be  a 
large  quantity  of  broken  rock  ready  to  be  ground  up  into 
pebbles  every  year ;  while  in  other  places,  exposed  to  the 
same  weather,  there  is  hardly  any  amount  of  alteration 
or  destruction  to  be  noticed. 

Many  countries  are  so  placed  as  to  have  exceedingly 
cold  weather  during  a  large  part  of  the  year.  This  is 
the  case  near  the  poles  of  the  earth,  where  there  are  but 
two  seasons, — a  short  summer,  and  the  long  tedious  winter; 
and  it  is  the  case  also  near  the  tops  of  several  of  the 
great  mountain-chains  in  different  parts  of  the  world. 
Owing  to  the  absence  of  any  quantity  of  solid  earth  to 
get  warmed  by  the  sun's  rays,  these  high  peaks  and 

6 


50  LANGUAGE   OF   THE   BOOK. 

ridges  are  always  excessively  cold ;  and  when  it  would 
rain  below,  snow  there  falls  at  almost  all  seasons. 

Ice,  or  water  in  the  solid  state, — which,  in  England,  is 
only  occasionally  formed  during  cold  winters — is  always 
present  in  these  places,  and  takes  the  place  of  water.  Let 
us  see  what  difference  this  makes  in  the  action  of  the  water* 

Those  great  mountains  the  Alps,  and  particularly  the 
parts  of  the  chain  situated  in  Switzerland,  are  remarkable 
for  being  always  covered  with  snow.  People  who  have 
not  actually  travelled  can  hardly  form  an  idea  of  the  ex- 
ceeding beauty  of  a  distant  chain  of  lofty  snow-capped 
elevations,  shooting  up  into  the  sky  with  every  variety  of 
jagged  and  rounded  summit.  As  you  get  nearer  you  see 
large  dark  patches,  where  either  naked  rock  juts  out,  or 
where  are  green  slopes  covered  in  summer  with  cattle ; 
and  then,  as  you  come  close  to  the  mountains  and  go 
amongst  them,  you  find  besides  the  top,  which  is  always 
white  with  snow,  there  are  numerous  patches  of  snow, 
covering  thick  heaps  of  ice,  reaching  down  quite  into  the 
valleys.  In  winter  these  cover  the  whole  flank  of  the 
mountain,  and  even  occupy  parts  of  the  lower  valley; 
but  in  summer  the  surface-snow  melts,  and  we  can  easily 
examine  and  walk  over  vast  fields  of  ice. 

I  advise  any  of  my  readers  who  have  the  opportunity, 
to  look  carefully  at  one  of  these  patches,  for  they  show, 
more  clearly  than  any  description,  what  ice  and  frost  on 
mountain-sides  are  able  to  perform ;  but  those  who  have 
not  such  opportunity  may  still  feel  interested  by  an  ac- 
count of  what  others  have  seen.  The  path  of  the  ice  in 
the  larger  ice-fields  is  marked  very  distinctly  on  the 
mountain-side,  and  there  are  often  many  instances,  of 


SUN,   WIND,   RAIN,    AND   FROST.  51 

exactly  the  same  kind,  easily  seen  and  examined  within 
a  narrow  breadth  of  country.  The  mountain-side  is, 
in  such  cases,  smoothed  towards  the  valley,  and  covered 
with  a  continued  string  of  stones  of  all  sizes, — the 
breadth  gradually  increasing,  and  terminating  at  the 
bottom  in  a  wide  and  large  heap.  Just  at  this  point 
there  is,  generally,  running  water,  and  the  heap  gradually 
diminishes  during  summer.  Where  the  mountain  is  high 
and  the  sides  steep,  but  not  too  steep  to  allow  the  ice 
to  rest  on  it  without  falling,  there  is  sometimes  no  inter- 
val at  all  between  these  broad  strips  of  broken  stone. 
Where  the  mountain  is  steeper,  the  ice  and  stones  are 
seen  at  intervals  only,  and  between  them  are  waterfalls, — 
numerous  white  threads  of  water  leaping  down  hundreds 
of  feet ;  while  very  often  the  bottom  of  the  fall,  and  the 
valley  beyond  and  below,  are  so  completely  blocked  up 
by  the  broken  rocks  that  it  is  difficult  to  walk  along. 
Millions  of  tons  of  stone  and  rock  are  seen,  all  of  which 
have  been  recently  moved,  and  the  ice  and  water  which 
helped  to  move  this  vast  quantity  are  still  visible. 

The  same  thing  goes  on, — the  constant  breaking  away 
of  the  mountain,  continuing  during  winter  by  help  of 
the  frost  in  the  upper  part,  where  the  ice  never  alto- 
gether disappears.  The  stones  and  mud  are  thoroughly 
mixed  with  the  ice  and  form  a  part  of  it ;  they  gradually 
come  to  the  top,  because  the  surface  of "  the  ice  is  always 
being  evaporated  by  the  air,  and  fresh  material  is  sup- 
plied by  the  frozen  snows  above. 

Such  masses  of  ice,  and  some  of  them  are  many  miles 
in  length  and  of  great  breadth,  are  called  glaciers. 
They  look  as  if  they  were  quite  still,  and  the  ice  of 


52  LANGUAGE    OF   THE    BOOK. 

which  they  consist  is  often  concealed  by  newly-fallen 
snow  all  through  the  summer ;  but  they  are  always  in 
motion, — the  ice  creeping  slowly  down  the  valleys  with 
a  peculiar  motion,  and  melting  at  the  lower  end.  From 
the  foot  or  lower  extremity  of  glaciers  proceed  the  first 
germs  of  the  principal  rivers  in  Europe,  and  the  ice  is 
advancing  incessantly,  bearing  down  along  with  it,  in  its 
progress,  the  stones  and  mud  torn  away  from  the  moun- 
tain top  and  sides.  These,  of  course,  ultimately  enter  the 
valley  and  are  broken  up  by  the  running  water. 

A  glacier  may  be  formed  in  any  part  of  the  world, 
provided  the  mountains  are  sufficiently  lofty  and  the 
prevailing  winds  carry  moisture  enough  to  insure  fre- 
quent falls  of  snow.  But  in  those  high  northern  and 
southern  lands  where  cold  sufficient  to  freeze  water  is 
hardly  ever  absent,  as  on  the  shores  of  the  Arctic  and 
Antarctic  seas,  similar  but  much  larger  masses  of  ice, 
formed  in  the  same  way, — taking  their  origin  from  the 
steep  cliffs,  and  coming  from  the  interior  and  higher 
land, — push  forward,  occupying  creeks  and  inlets,  until 
at  last  they  break  off  and  float  away. 

In  some  parts  of  the  world  the  wind  combines  with 
the  rain  and  cold,  or  even  acts  independently  of  it,  in 
removing  solid  matter  from  one  place  to  another.  On 
the  coast  of  Flanders,  between  Dunkirk  and  Ostend,  is 
a  tract  of  country  where  almost  every  wind  that  blows 
drifts  sand  to  such  an  extent  as  to  require  careful  man- 
agement lest  property  should  be  seriously  injured.  By 
making  nature  oppose  herself, — by  bringing  vital  energy 
to  bear  against  mere  mechanical  force,  and  fixing  the 
loose  sands  by  causing  roots  of  particular  kinds  of  grass 


SUN,    WIND,    RAIN,    AND    FROST.  53 

to  penetrate  them  in  every  direction,  the  sand-drift  is 
either  stopped  or  seriously  checked. 

But  in  Egypt,  and  over  the  whole  of  that  wide  and 
large  and  little-watered  tract  in  North  Africa,  known 
as  the  Great  Desert,  the  moving  columns  of  sand  are 
not  checked,  and  they  have  already  concealed  and  buried 
enormous  tracts  of  fertile  land,  at  one  time  richly  culti- 
vated. There  no  plants  seem  likely  to  grow  which  could 
fix  the  sand,  nor  are  efforts  made  by  human  intelligence 
to  combat  the  natural  powers  at  work.  A  continual 
advance  of  the  sand  towards  the  east,  due  to  the  preva- 
lence of  westerly  winds,  is  a  fact  no  less  influential,  and 
produces  results  no  less  marked,  in  Northeastern  Africa, 
than  the  alternate  frost  and  thaw  of  the  northern  coun- 
tries of  Europe,  or  the  rain  that  washes  down  its  mil- 
lions of  tons  into  the  great  rivers  of  Central  Asia  and 
America. 

Even  the  lightning-flash,  restoring  by  a  suddan  and 
energetic  communication  the  electric  equilibrium  be- 
tween the  air  and  the  earth,  is  capable  of  producing 
effects  which  tend  to  change  and  disturb  the  soil  and 
break  up  solid  rock.  Instances  are  on  record  of  con- 
siderable disruption  of  hard  sandstones  effected  in  this 
way;  and  as  rocks  once  broken  or  split,  however  hard 
they  may  be,  are  soon  worn  down  and  lost  sight  of, 
even  this  source  of  change  and  destruction  must  not  be 
disregarded. 

Sun,  wind,  and  storm, — rain,  snow,  and  hail, — frost 
and  thaw, — summer  and  winter, — are  thus  found  to  be 
all  of  them  favorable  to  the  process,  eternally  going  on, 
of  smoothing  and  paring  away  the  rough  surface  inequali- 

5* 


54  .  LANGUAGE   OF    THE   BOOK. 

ties,  and  scooping  out  new  channels  and  furrows  on  the 
earth's  wide  surface. 

There  is  no  day  and  no  hour  when  such  forces  are  not 
at  work;  and  we  have  every  reason  to  conclude  that  this 
has  always  been  so,  and  that  at  all  former  periods,  as 
much  as  at  the  present  time,  disturbance  and  change  and 
mechanical  displacement  are  among  the  inevitable  events 
of  Nature.  So  far  as  we  can  tell,  they  are  inevitable 
results  of  the  course  of  Nature  as  it  has  been  settled  for 
the  earth ;  for  nothing  else  could  arise  from  the  admix- 
ture of  the  three  conditions  of  matter, — solid,  liquid,  and 
gaseous.  So  long  as  this  has  continued,  so  long  must 
there  have  been  the  same  equilibrium  produced  by  the 
same  means, — a  means  admirably  adapted,  no  doubt,  to 
carry  out  the  intention  of  the  Great  Creator,  but  very 
difficult  for  us  fully  to  comprehend  in  the  present  limited 
state  of  our  knowledge.  Without  these  conditions,  how- 
ever, all  would  be  still  with  the  stillness  of  death.  Life 
consists  in  this  incessant  play.  Life,  perhaps,  means 
some  struggle  of  this  kind,  in  which  the  elements  are 
constantly  entering  into  new  combinations,  constantly 
releasing  themselves  from  those  in  which  they  have  for 
a  time  been  imprisoned.  Certainly  life,  in  the  sense  in 
which  we  inhabitants  of  the  earth  understand  it,  has  very 
distinct  reference  to  the  conditions  of  matter  on  the  earth. 
Were  the  latter  to  be  changed, — were  the  mean  tempera- 
ture of  the  air  to  admit  the  water  generally  to  be  fixed 
in  ice  or  converted  into  steam, — how  enormous  would  the 
difference  be! — how  completely  would  almost  the  whole 
group  of  animals  and  plants  pass  away ! 

Thus,  then,  destruction  and  renovation,  effected    by 


SUN,    WIND,    RAIN,   AND    FROST.  55 

means  of  air  and  water,  is  one  of  the  laws  of  Nature :  it 
is  the  law  which  leads  us  to  all  others ;  it  is  the  thing  to 
be  understood  if  any  thing  of  Nature's  ways  is  to  be 
learnt.  We  shall  see  hereafter  how  clearly  this  action  of 
water  is  marked  in  all,  or  nearly  all,  the  rocks  that  have 
been  formed,  and  how,  if  it  has  not  really  produced  them, 
it  has  affected  their  production. 

We  shall  also  see,  if  it  is  n.ot  already  plain,  that  heat 
and  cold  must  be  constantly  alternating;  that  there  must 
be  a  means  of  producing  incessant  change  of  temperature 
if  these  vast  changes  and  reconstructions  of  the  earth  are 
to  proceed.  We  do  not  really  know,  and  probably  never 
can  know,  what  conditions  of  temperature  are  most 
favorable  to  the  rapid  destruction  and  reconstruction  of 
rocks.  Geologists  assume,  without  knowing  much  about 
it,  that  a  higher  temperature  than  we  have  now,  even 
in  the  tropics,  has  formerly  existed  all  over  the  earth, 
and  would  do  more  in  a  given  time  to  effect  and  alter 
deposits  than  is  now  done  in  that  time.  On  the  other 
hand,  we  know  that  many  of  our  greatest  recent  changes 
have  been  brought  about  in  a  very  cold  climate.  At 
any  rate,  climates  have  altered,  and  perhaps  the  alter- 
ation itself  has  been  more  important  than  the  nature 
of  it. 

Not  one  of  the  elements  and  causes  of  change  to  which 
we  have  alluded  in  this  chapter  and  the  last  is  without 
very  great  influence  and  meaning.  The  sun,  as  the 
source  of  heat  and  the  direct  cause  of  other  changes 
independent  of  heat  and  of  a  chemical  nature,  is  one  of 
the  chief.  The  wind  or  periodic  and  occasional  motion 
of  the  air  acts  in  many  ways,  directly  and  indirectly,  but 


56  LANGUAGE   OF   THE   BOOK. 

always  with  much  effect.  It  distributes  heat,  moisture, 
and  cloud.  It  induces  changes  in  the  electrical  state  of 
the  air,  and  thus  affects  the  supply  of  rain.  When  inter- 
rupted, it  produces  great  mechanical  pressure. 

The  rain  is  too  manifest  a  source  of  movement  to  re- 
quire more  than  mention.  The  frost  splits  up  the  ground 
and  prepares  it  for  farther  change.  The  following  dia- 
gram offers  a  curious  illustration  of  this,  in  a  part  of  the 
world  where  the  changes  of  weather  are  very  great: — 


EFFECTS   OF   ICE   ON   THE   BANKS   OF   THE   DWINA. 

a.  Limestone  rock.  b.  Sand  hillocks. 

c.  The  limestone  broken  up  by  the  winter's  frost. 

d.  The  summer  level  of  the  stream.  e.  The  winter  level. 
f.  The  road  on  the  banks  of  the  river. 

Besides  all  this,  every  stream  of  water  running  over 
the  surface  collects  the  small  results  and  distributes  them 
in  order, — carrying  some  far,  leaving  others  near;  while 
the  great  ocean,  when  reached,  finally  arranges  and  dis- 
tributes what  is  brought  down  by  the  river,  as  well  as 
what  it  removes  by  its  own  waves. 

If  we  could  add  together  the  whole  annual  amount 
carried  along  by  rivers  and  left  behind  before  reaching 
the  sea,  including  the  solid  rock  broken  away  and  con- 
verted into  boulders,  pebbles,  sand,  and  mud, — of  cliffs 
ground  into  sand  and  mud  by  the  sea, — of  sands  drifted 
by  the  wind, — of  mountain-peaks,  jagged  rocks,  and  cliffs 
thrown  down  and  conveyed  away  by  ice ;  and  if  we  could 


SUN,  WIND,  RAIN,  AND  FROST.  57 

multiply  this  large  total  by  the  number  of  years  during 
which  such  work  has  been  going  on  before  our  eyes,  we 
should  understand,  better  than  we  can  now,  the  vast  im- 
portance of  considerations  of  this  kind  in  explaining  the 
great  changes  that,  in  the  course  of  that  time,  have  been 
produced  on  the  earth.  Without  a  careful  study  of 
Nature  in  these  matters,  in  different  countries,  at  various 
seasons,  and  under  different  influences,  no  one  is  justified 
in  forming  an  opinion  as  to  the  value  of  geological  evi- 
dence,— and,  indeed,  no  one  can  fully  understand  the 
nature  of  Geology,  or  the  possible  extent  of  changes  on 
the  earth's  surface  in  ancient  times. 

Having  now  considered  these  fundamental  matters,  and 
learnt  something  of  the  mode  in  which  Nature  acts  at 
present  to  produce  new  things  out  of  old,  it  will  be  con- 
venient to  pass  on  at  once  to  consider  the  materials  with 
which  geologists  have  to  deal, — the  so-called  "rocks" — 
not  always  rocky  and  hard,  but,  in  a  word,  the  materials, 
whatever  they  are,  of  which  the  earth's  external  shell  is 
composed.  These,  of  course,  vary  in  different  places. 
They  are  all,  however,  reducible  to  a  small  number  of 
principal  varieties;  for  they  have  either  been  left  behind 
by  water,  or  built  up  by  animals,  or  accumulated  by  plants, 
or  they  have  undergone  some  chemical  change  within  the 
earth,  or  finally  they  are,  or  have  been  for  a  long  while, 
within  the  earth  in  a  melted  state.  The  former  are  of 
three  kinds :  they  are  clays,  limestones,  and  sandstones. 
The  latter  are  either  lavas  or  granites,  or  what  are  called 
schists. 

Let  us  begin  with  one  of  the  most  common  and  familiar 
of  all, — the  clays  that,  in  one  shape  or  other,  are  uni- 


58  LANGUAGE   OF   THE    BOOK. 

versally  spread  over  the  earth.  Of  all  rocks,  clays  are  the 
most  manifestly  derived  from  water,  and  they  are  among 
the  least  altered  from  their  original  condition  as  mud. 

They  have,  however,  undergone  many  and  great  changes, 
and  are  adapted  to  illustrate  our  history  of  the  Stones  of 
the  Great  Book. 


THE  GREAT  STONE  BOOK. 

PART  II. 


CLAY  AND   ITS  VARIETIES. 

BY  clay  we  understand,  not  merely  the  substance  com- 
monly so  called, — whether  in  the  fields  helping  to  make 
vegetable  soil,  or  in  the  pits  worked  for  brick-making,  or 
exported  to  make  porcelain,  or  for  other  special  purposes, 
— but  also  various  minerals  and  rocks  derived  from  it. 
In  this  general  sense  it  is  a  complicated  rock  of  great 
importance  and  of  great  interest. 

And,  first  of  all,  let  us  go  back  to  its  origin,  and  con- 
nect it,  as  far  as  possible,  with  the  element  from  which  it 
is  derived.  It  is  not  desirable  to  do  this  in  all  cases  in 
Geology;  for  many  elementary  substances,  interesting 
enough  to  the  chemist,  are  so  rare  and  have  so  few  pro- 
perties of  general  interest  as  not  to  be  worth  considering 
by  the  geologist.  Not  so  with  clay ;  for  the  element  from 
which  it  is  derived  is  already  manufactured  in  sufficient 
quantity  to  show  that  it  may  hereafter  possess  import- 
ance in  the  arts,  while  it  is  quite  remarkable  enough  to 
have  attracted  much  attention,  and  to  have  been  the 
object  of  important  experiments. 

There  is  a  beautiful  metal  recently  brought  into  use 
for  making  bracelets,  brooches,  and  some  other  personal 
ornaments ;  and  this  metal,  while  almost  of  the  color  of 
silver,  is  only  about  one-fourth  its  weight, — being  in  fact 

6  61 


62  THE  STONES  OF  THE  BOOK. 

no  heavier  than  so  much  glass.  It  is  called  ALUMINIUM; 
and,  although  new  in  one  sense,  its  existence  as  a  chemi- 
cal curiosity  has  long  been  known.  This  singular  sub- 
stance, called  a  metal,  but  in  many  respects  very  little 
like  other  metals,  mixes  readily  with  oxygen  gas,  and 
when  in  the  mixed  state  occurs  naturally  in  several  dif- 
ferent forms.  It  is  then  known  as  ALUMINA.  Crystal- 
lized, it  becomes  a  precious  ruby  or  sapphire ;  half  crystal- 
lized, but  equally  pure,  it  is  known  as  emery, — a  sub- 
stance sufficientlyrare,  but  not  costly,  and  found  some- 
times as  a  stone,  sometimes  as  a  coarse  powder.  In  either 
form  alumina  exists  ready  made  in  rocks ;  whereas  the 
metal  aluminium  is  only  to  be  obtained  by  an  extremely 
expensive  and  troublesome  chemical  treatment  of  some 
natural  ore. 

When,  however,  the  comparatively  rare  mineral,  alumina, 
has  combined  in  nature  with  another  very  common  sub- 
stance, silica  or  flint,  a  third  product  results,  and  this  is 
infinitely  common  and  abundant  everywhere.  This  pro- 
duct, mixed  with  a  little  water,  is,  in  fact,  CLAY. 

Clay,  then,  is  derived  from  alumina,  as  that  is  derived 
from  aluminium.  It  is  called  by  chemists  a  silicate  of 
alumina ,  to  denote  its  composition,  and  the  form  in  which 
one  of  the  metals  exists,  under  ordinary  conditions,  at 
the  earth's  surface. 

Silicate  of  alumina,  however,  in  a  perfectly  pure  state, 
without  water,  is  hardly  found  in  nature.  It  occurs  in 
a  complicated  and  ever-changing  series  of  combinations, 
and  when  mixed  up  with  a  vast  variety  of  other  sub- 
stances as  well  as  water,  it  is  of  universal  occurrence.  It 
forms  a  few  rare  minerals ;  but  we  will  not  here  trouble 


CLAY   AND   ITS   VARIETIES.  63 

ourselves  with  the  rarities,  since  the  commonest  clays 
are  exceedingly  useful;  and  will  supply  us  with  ample 
material  for  illustration. 

The  foundation  of  all  natural  clays  is,  we  have  seen, 
silicate  of  alumina  combined  with  water;  and  the  propor- 
tion of  water  varies,  according  to  circumstances,  from 
ten  to  twenty-five  per  cent.  All  clays  contain,  also,  a 
mixture  of  sand  and  some  impurities, — these  latter,  indeed, 
often  giving  a  distinctive  character  to  the  varieties.  The 
common  materials  met  with  in  clays  as  impurities  are 
the  oxides  of  iron  and  manganese,  carbon,  soda,  and 
potash,  and  more  or  less  lime  and  magnesia.  Other  sub- 
stances may  be  present  accidentally,  but  these  are  all  very 
common ;  and  the  quantity  of  them,  and  sometimes  also 
the  way  in  which  the  foreign  ingredients  are  mixed  up 
with  the  pure  mineral,  affect  the  value  of  the  result  for 
those  purposes  for  which  the  clay  is  to  be  used. 

One  of  the  properties  of  clay,  which  renders  it  so  much 
more  useful  than  many  substances  apparently  more  valu- 
able, and  so  indispensable  to  man  in  almost  every  state 
of  civilized  existence,  is  its  plastic  nature, — or,  in  other 
words,  the  property  it  has  of  working  up  into  a  paste  with 
water,  and  when  once  moulded  in  this  state,  and  exposed 
to  high  heat,  parting  with  the  water  without  losing  the 
form  given  to  it.  It  is  in  this  way  that  clay  becomes 
brick.  When  it  has  thus  been  exposed  to  great  heat, 
and  the  water  got  rid  of  by  burning,  clay  cannot  again 
be  made  soft  and  plastic  by  merely  mixing  it  with  water. 

Many  stones,  if  ground  very  fine  and  mixed  with  water, 
can  also  be  moulded  and  brought  into  shape ;  but  in  these 
cases  a  complete  and  permanent  hardening  would  not  be 


64          THE  STONES  OF  THE  BOOK. 

secured  by  any  heat  that  the  mixture  could  endure  with- 
out melting.  Some  of  the  clays  (though  reckoned  as 
among  the  most  refractory  and  troublesome  of  all  rocks) 
will  themselves  melt  in  the  fire  which  is  intended  only  to 
harden  them;  but  this  is  owing  to  an  excess  of  soda,  pot- 
ash, limestone,  or  other  flux,  any  one  of  which  ingredients 
may  help  to  convert  the  clay,  when  burnt,  into  a  sort  of 
opaque  glass.  It  must  not  be  supposed  that,  merely  be- 
cause they  may  all  be  moulded,  all  clays  are  essentially 
of  the  same  kind  and  equally  unlike  other  minerals.  There 
are,  for  example,  various  degrees  of  plasticity, — some  very- 
complete,  others  very  imperfect.  It  has  been  found, 
generally,  that  pure  clays,  free  from  all  foreign  ingre- 
dients except  pure  silica  sand,  are  the  most  manageable 
and  the  best  that  can  be  used,  since  they  are  not  only 
more  easily  worked,  but  the  hardest  and  most  beautiful 
after  burning. 

Common  brick  clay  fairly  illustrates  the  general  pro- 
perties of  the  whole  group.  Some  of  the  best  brick  clays 
contain  a  great  deal  of  sand,  and  enough  oxide  of  iron  to 
color  them  deeply.  The  dark  color  of  such  clays  is  due 
also,  in  part,  to  minute  particles  of  carbon  derived  from 
vegetable  matter  with  which  they  are  mixed;  but  the 
material  that  produces  the  deep  bright  red  so  common 
w'Ji  burnt  bricks  is  iron,  and  before  burning  is  generally 
of  a  dirty  yellow  or  brown  tint. 

Besides  carbon  and  iron,  and  a  good  deal  of  sand,  brick 
clay  contains  lime,  potash,  and  soda.  Of  all  these  the 
less  there  is  the  better  is  the  clay, — the  less  risk  is  there 
of  the  bricks  running  together  in  the  kiln,  and  the  harder 
and  firmer  will  they  be  ultimately.  It  might  be  thought 


CLAY   AND    ITS    VARIETIES.  65 

that  too  much  sand  would  be  injurious;  but  this  is  not 
the  case. — some  of  the  best  clays  for  burning  containing 
the  largest  proportion  of  sand.  The  iron,  or  rather  oxide 
of  iron,  may  also  be  abundant  without  injury. 

Very  fine  clays  occur  in  small  quantities  in  some  parts 
of  the  country,  especially  near  coal-beds,  from  which  can 
be  made  bricks  which  resist  any  amount  of  heat  in  a 
wind-furnace.  These  are  the  fire-clays,  and  their  pro- 
perties are  owing  to  the  almost  entire  absence  of  the 
alkalies  and  the  presence  of  but  little  iron.  They  are 
often  loaded  with  bitumen,  which  of  course  disappears 
in  the  kiln  where  they  are  burnt.  Stourbridge  clay 
from  near  Oxford,  other  clays  near  Newcastle,  and  others 
again  near  Glasgow,  are  all  celebrated  for  making  those 
bricks  which  best  resist  intense  heat.  They  are  called 
fire-bricks,  and  are  made  with  much  greater  care  than 
common  bricks.  Besides  the  careful  working  that  such 
clays  require  before  using,  they  must  be  exposed  for  a 
long  time  to  the  air  after  being  taken  from  the  earth,  for 
unless  thus  seasoned  they  cannot  be  depended  on.  A 
good  deal  of  the  terra-cotta  work,  used  commonly  enough  in 
buildings  and  garden-terraces  where  ornament  is  required 
at  small  cost,  is  made  of  these  superior  varieties  of  brick 
clay;  but  they  are  all  subject  to  the  great  disadvantage 
of  shrinking.  This  they  do  very  much  and  very  un- 
equally, while  undergoing  the  intense  heat  of  the  kiln 
necessary  to  bake  them. 

Potter's  clay,  of  a  blue  color  and  excellent  quality,  is 
obtained  from  the  little  peninsula  called  the  Isle  of  Pur- 
beck,  on  the  Dorsetshire  coast.  It  is  also  found  else- 
where, and  its  peculiar  value  depends  on  the  composition. 

6* 


66  THE  STONES  OF  THE  BOOK. 

Some  kinds,  without  much  sand,  and  of  very  uniform 
texture,  are  adapted  for  the  artist's  use  as  modelling-clay ; 
and  these,  if  burnt,  are  remarkably  smooth  and  beautiful. 
Other  kinds,  without  iron,  make  tobacco-pipes,  while  the 
iron  varieties  are  used  for  the  common  red  pottery-ware 
seen  everywhere,.  There  are  two  kinds  of  pottery,  one 
being  dark  red  and  comparatively  soft;  the  other,  called 
stone-ware,  of  pale  color,  and  very  hard. 

China  clay  is  a  still  finer  kind.  Formerly  the  finest 
China  clays  were  'only  known  to  occur  in  China  and  Ja- 
pan, and  they  are  still  known  by  their  Chinese  names, 
kaolin  and  pe-tun-tse.  Large  quantities  are  now  obtained 
from  England,  France,  and  Germany,  and  are  much  used 
in  the  manufacture  of  the  finer  kinds  of  pottery  and 
porcelain.  It  is  a  striking  thing  to  see  and  examine 
some  of  the  largest  and  most  regular  works  where  the 
clay  is  dug,  cleaned,  and  prepared  for  the  market.  This 
clay  is  principally  derived  from  Cornwall  and  Devonshire. 
The  process  of  cleaning  and  separating  the  clay  from 
sand  and  dirt  is  carried  on  in  pits,  where  the  raw 
material  is  conducted  by  water  and  allowed  to  settle. 
When  afterwards  dried,  it  is  cut  into  bricks  and  sent  to 
the  Staffordshire  potteries.  The  operation  is  tedious, 
many  months  elapsing,  even  in  favorable  weather,  before 
the  clay  is  ready ;  for  it  is  extremely  necessary  that  the 
material  sent  should  be  as  pure  as  possible. 

There  is  a  kind  of  clay  found  in  Tuscany,  not  far  from 
Sienna,  and  also  in  France,  which  has  a  large  admixture 
of  magnesia  in  its  composition,  and  from  which  bricks 
may  be  made.  When  either  dried  or  burned,  these  bricks 
are  much  lighter  thau  water,  and  they  are  also  very  effi- 


CLAY   AND   ITS    VARIETIES.  67 

cacious  in  resisting  heat.  The  common  Bath  scouring- 
brick,  used  for  various  purposes,  is  made  in  the  same  way, 
and  from  somewhat  similar  materials. 

Fuller's  earth  is  another  clay  possessed  of  some  curious 
properties.  It  consists  of  nearly  twenty-five  per  cent,  of 
water,  dissolving  almost  entirely  when  mixed  with  water, 
and  melting  when  exposed  to  heat.  This  clay  absorbs 
grease  very  readily,  in  spite  of  its  water,  and  is  much 
used  in  cleaning  or  fulling  cloth.  For  this  reason  it  is 
called  fuller's  earth. 

Some  of  our  clays  in  England  are  valuable  for  pur- 
poses that  at  first  they  would  seem  hardly  fit  for.  Thus  the 
lias,  or  "  blue  lias"  a  common  rock  in  the  middle  of  Eng- 
land, is  particularly  useful  in  the  manufacture  of  cement. 
It  is  a  clay  which  contains  much  limestone,  and  burns 
into  a  kind  of  lime,  which  when  made  into  a  mortar  sets 
rapidly  in  damp  air,  and  even  under  water.  It  is  thus 
extremely  convenient  for  building  purposes;  and  the 
mortar  thus  formed  is  called  hydraulic  cement.  It  is 
made  from  impure  clays  and  limestones,  the  peculiar  pro- 
perties for  which  it  is  valued  depending  on  the  presence 
of  foreign  substances,  so  that  the  impure  clays  are  more 
valuable  than  those  kinds  which  are  more  free  from 
foreign  admixture. 

Among  the  blue  clays  of  the  Lias,  and  below  them, 
are  certain  slaty  beds,  from  which  the  alum  of  commerce 
is  obtained.  The  coast  of  Yorkshire  near  Whitby  is  one 
of  the  places  where  this  manufacture  is  largely  carried 
on.  It  might  have  been  thought  that  alum  has  little  to 
do  with  clay :  this  is  not  so,  for  the  one  is  derived  from 
the  other;  and,  as  we  have  already  had  occasion  to  re- 


68  THE  STONES  OF  THE  BOOK. 

mark,  the  apparent  impurities  and  foreign  matters  in  clay 
are  materials  of  value  in  certain  important  manufactures. 

It  will  be  evident,  then,  that  the  ordinary  clays  under 
our  feet,  forming  the  soil  or  subsoil  of  the  earth,  contain 
materials  of  great  interest,  which  are  often  largely  em- 
ployed for  manufacturing  purposes.  From  some  such 
clays  we  make  bricks, — an  admirable  substitute  for  stone 
as  a  building  material  in  our  climate;  from  others,  ap- 
parently little  different,  we  make  pottery  and  porcelain ; 
from  others,  again,  cements  are  manufactured;  while 
some  yield  alum  by  elaborate  chemical  preparation. 

These  clay-beds  do  not  (like  the  limestone)  show  any 
marks  of  having  been  formed  by  animal  or  vegetable 
help,  for  clay  is  not  a  substance  that  enters  directly  into 
the  composition  of  living  beings ;  and  the  expressions 
often  made  use  of  in  reference  to  clay  as  an  emblem  of 
mortality  are  not  really  very  applicable.  A  vast  amount 
of  decomposition  and  recomposition  must,  in  fact,  go  on 
before  any  kind  of  substance  resembling  clay  enters  into 
the  human  frame,  or  the  frame  of  any  animal,  as  a  com- 
ponent part;  and  even  then  the  essential  elements  are  very 
small  in  amount.  Carbon  in  abundance,  and  lime,  and 
iron,  and  even  some  silica,  are  traceable  in  the  structure 
of  living  tissue,  but  of  clay  properly  so  called  (pure  hy- 
drous silicate  of  alumina)  there  is  none. 

But  although  this  is  certainly  the  case,  it  is  not  the 
less  true  that  clay  plays  a  part  in  nature  hardly  exceeded 
in  real  importance  by  any  substance.  As  the  soil  and 
subsoil  in  large  districts  of  cultivated  land,  its  conditions 
and  peculiarities  affect  all  vegetation  to  an  enormous  ex- 
tent. If  a  clay  soil  be  not  well  drained,  so  that  the  water, 


CLAY   AND   ITS    VARIETIES.  69 

when  it  gets  down  within  the  clay,  remains  for  a  long 
time  without  a  chance  of  absorbing  fresh  air, — a  thing 
very  likely  to  happen  in  undrained  land, — the  result  is 
exceedingly  injurious. 

The  moisture,  then,  instead  of  encouraging  vegetation, 
completely  poisons  it,  becoming  highly  mischievous  in- 
stead of  beneficial.  In  drained  land,  when  the  stiff  clay 
is  treated  with  lime,  or  mixed  with  sand,  or  in  any  other 
way  rendered  accessible  to  the  water  and  prevented  from 
caking  into  bricks,  a  clay  soil  is  good  and  useful. 

Stiff  clay  retains  water  on  the  surface  in  pools,  not 
allowing  it  to  pass  down.  Whenever,  therefore,  a  bed  of 
such  clay,  covered  by  more  open  and  porous  rock,  is  laid 
bare  by  a  cliff  or  railway-cutting,  or  by  the  natural  slope 
of  a  hill,  it  is  very  likely  that  the  water  should  come  out 
on  the  side  of  the  cutting  in  natural  springs.  There  are 
very  simple  conditions  also  under  which,  when  beds  of 
clay  are  bored  through,  or  when  borings  through  other 
rock  reach  clay,  there  should  be  natural  jets  of  water, 
such  as  are  called  Artesian  springs. 

Although  clay  is  not  formed  or  separated  by  animals  or 
vegetables,  still  many  beds  of  it  contain  fragments  of 
wood,  shells,  bone,  and  other  substances,  which  serve  to 
show  very  clearly  the  circumstances  under  which  the  de- 
posit was  brought  together.  It  is  curious  enough  to  find 
among  these  many  indications,  and  sometimes  whole 
skeletons,  of  animals  of  which  all  traces  have  long  passed 
away  from  the  world  of  life. 

Among  the  shells  found  in  the  Lias  clay,  and  in  an- 
other bed,  called  Oxford  clay,  lying  over  it  in  some  places, 
there  are  various  kinds  that  seem  to  have  had  a  general 


70  THE  STONES  OF  THE  BOOK. 

resemblance  to  the  squids  and  cuttle-fish  now  living ;  but 
they  were  provided  with  a  long  pen  or  solid  framework 
different  in  shape  from  that  of  any  yet  found.  The  squid 
now  is  a  soft  animal,  having  a  plate  of  horny  or  solid 
matter  (generally  limestone)  for  the  sake  of  attaching  its 
muscular  system.  It  has  also  a  very  curious  apparatus 
of  claws  for  holding  its  prey,  and  a  small  receptacle  of 
ink,  with  a  tube  by  which  it  can  shoot  out  the  ink  and 
darken  the  water.  It  is  not  a  little  curious  to  find  buried 
in  the  clay  remains  of  ancient  animals  of  the  same  kind, 
such  as  the  thickened  and  dried  ink,  the  bag  in  which 
it  was  preserved,  the  delicate  little  hook  by  which  the 
creature  could  touch  any  thing  that  came  in  its  way,  and 
the  tube  conducting  to  the  ink-bag,  unemptied  at  the 
death  of  the  animal. 

Yet  more  singular  remains  are  found  in  the  same  bed. 
Among  them  are  entire  skeletons  of  large  lizards,  shaped 
like  fishes,  and  evidently  adapted  to  live  almost  entirely  in 
the  water,  if  we  may  judge  by  the  presence  of  fins  and  the 
absence  of  legs.  Of  such  animals  we  find  occasionally 
not  only  the  hard  bones  and  teeth,  but  the  marks  of  a 
soft  skin  and  large  fins,  showing  that  the  animal  was  not 
covered  with  scales,  and  there  are  even  the  contents  of 
the  stomach,  with  fragments  of  indigested,  half-digested, 
and  digested  food,  and  the  bones  of  the  latest  prey  that 
had  been  devoured. 

The  parts  of  clay-beds  that  are  mixed  up  with  lime- 
stone often  contain  other  remains  of  animals,  such  as 
might  be  expected  in  that  mineral  and  not  in  pure  clay. 
Thus,  fragments  of  coral,  and  little  shells  like  those  at 
the  bottom  of  the  deeper  parts  of  the  Atlantic,  are  here 


CLAY   AND   ITS   VARIETIES.  71 

found,  with  scales  and  teeth  of  fishes  and  shells  of  un- 
familiar animals. 

The  fragments  of  vegetation  found  in  these  beds  are 
generally  water-worn  or  altered.  They  do  not  form  good 
coal;  but  some  of  them  can  be,  and  are,  used  for  fuel 
when  no  better  can  be  had.  Some  of  them  are  changed 
into  jet,  and  are  valued  for  ornamental  purposes.  Much 
of  the  clay  thus  loaded  with  organic  matter,  and  black 
or  brown  with  bitumen,  is  now  extensively  used  in  the 
manufacture  of  mineral  oil. 

The  number  of  different  beds  of  clay  found  in  England 
is  very  large,  and  they  are  characterized  by  very  different 
remains.  Thus,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Thames,  in  the  Isle 
of  Sheppy,  are  numerous  fruits  of  tropical  trees,  with 
bones  of  alligators,  large  serpents  and  vultures,  and  even 
remains  of  monkeys,  all  buried  together  and  lying  over 
the  chalk.  Inside  the  chalk  range  in  Surrey  and  Sussex 
there  are  other  varieties  of  clay  loaded  with  very  minute 
valves  of  a  small  fresh-water  animal.  Near  Weymouth 
there  are  clays,  with  bad  coal,  used  in  making  pottery. 
These  clays  are  below  the  chalk;  and  others  again,  be- 
low them,  and  on  which  they  rest,  are  worked  near 
Oxford.  These  extend  eastwards  to  Cambridgeshire  and 
Lincolnshire,  and  form  the  well-known  Fen  country, — 
out  of  which  rises  Ely,  on  a  small  island  in  the  middle 
of  a  vast  level  space  of  such  clays.  Peterborough  is  not 
far  off,  proving  that  there  must  have  been  some  attrac- 
tion in  monkish  days  to  induce  a  settlement  in  these  rich 
but  uncomfortable  and  aguish  tracts  of  country. 

The  Lias,  seen  well  on  the  coast  at  Lyme  Regis  in  Dor- 
setshire, and  Whitby  in  Yorkshire,  and  extending  through 


72  THE    STONES   OF   THE    BOOK. 

the  midland  counties,  is  another  great  and  thick  clay 
deposit;  and  others  again  are  known  in  places  further  to 
the  west. 

Each  of  these  clay  localities  is  remarkable  for  some 
peculiarity  by  which  its  clay  may  be  recognized.  In 
many  cases  the  difference  in  the  appearance  of  the 
clays  is  well  marked;  but,  if  not,  the  remains  of  animals 
found  in  them  would  decide  the  question.  Thus,  no 
fragments  of  any  of  the  curious  and  gigantic  fish  and 
lizards  are  met  with,  except  in  the  group  of  rocks  be- 
tween the  chalk  and  the  coal  deposits,  while  the  shells, 
and  even  the  corals  and  star-fishes,  found  in  the  clay- 
beds  of  Herefordshire  and  Wales,  are  quite  unlike  those 
of  the  deposits  near  the  middle  of  England. 

We  have  already  said  that,  by  piercing  through  many 
of  the  clays,  springs  of  water  are  arrived  at  which  reach 
or  approach  the  surface.  This  occurs  when  the  water 
flows  beneath  sloping  beds  of  which  the  uppermost  is 
clay,  there  being  tolerably  free  communication  with  the 
surface  on  the  upper  part  of  the  slope,  but  no  means  of 
escape  for  the  water  from  the  other  end.  In  such  cases  the 
water  is  under  pressure,  and  when  an  opening  is  made  it 
will  immediately  rush  up  in  the  endeavor  to  find  its  level. 

We  have  hitherto  been  regarding  clay  in  its  most 
usual  form,  as  a  tough,  elastic  mineral,  and  a  substance 
which  cannot  remain  hard  after  long  exposure  to  wet. 
Let  us  now  look  at  it  in  another  light.  If  we  use  clay  to 
make  bricks,  of  which  we  build  our  houses,  we  also  fre- 
quently use  slate  to  cover  them ;  and  at  the  present  time 
large  slates,  under  the  name  of  slabs,  are  very  extensively 
used  for  making  tanks,  billiard-tables,  &c.,  and  for  a 


CLAY    AND    ITS   VARIETIES.  73 

variety  of  other  useful  purposes.  The  only  limit  to  the 
use  of  slates  and  slabs  is  the  power  to  supply  them  in 
sufficient  quantity  at  a  reasonable  price.  They  combine 
so  much  hardness  and  toughness,  with  a  perfectly  flat 
natural  surface  obtained  with  little  trouble ;  they  are  so 
admirably  adapted  to  withstand  exposure  of  all  kinds; 
they  are  so  little  absorbent,  and  affected  so  little  by  heat 
and  cold,  that  for  many  purposes  they  could  hardly  be 
replaced  with  advantage  by  any  known  contrivance. 

England  is  rich  in  these,  as  in  so  many  other  sources 
of  mineral  wealth;  and  some  of  the  great  slate-quarries 
of  North  Wales,  Cornwall  and  Scotland  are  among  the 
most  valuable  mineral  properties  in  the  world. 

Slate  of  all  kinds  is,  however,  nothing  more  than  clay 
that  has  undergone  an  enormous  squeezing.  The  slate 
is  hardly  more  pure  or  free  from  mixture  with  foreign 
substances  than  the  clay;  but  in  some  way  or  other  it 
has  become  so  completely  altered  as  to  assume  a  curious 
kind  of  half-crystalline  appearance  and  condition  which 
no  other  known  substance  presents.  To  satisfy  ourselves 
that  slate  is  nothing  more  than  clay,  we  have  only  to 
observe  the  surface  of  the  ground  in  slate  districts.  In 
those  parts  of  the  country  where  slates  abound,  the 
roads,  and  even  paths,  are  generally  thick  clay;  for  the 
constant  treading  of  feet  and  grinding  of  wheels  on  the 
slate  reduce  it  first  to  a  fine  powder,  and  this  mixed  with 
rain  produces  common  clay.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  it 
is  equally  certain  that  slate  is  a  very  peculiar  condition  of 
clay;  for,  without  being  actually  ground  up  with  water, 
no  amount  of  mere  exposure  to  weather  on  the  flat  surface 
seems  to  have  much  effect  upon  it.  In  its  most  remark- 

7 


74  THE    STONES    OF  THE    BOOK. 

able  characteristic,  also,  it  is  singularly  unlike  clay,  for  it 
splits  with  extreme  readiness  into  thin  films  when  struck 
in  one  direction,  although  it  always  breaks  with  jagged 
edges  in  every  other  direction.  It  is  not  necessary  to 
direct  attention  here  to  the  nature  of  this  peculiarity,  as 
it  is  so  universally  known;  but,  although  probably  only 
the  result  of  enormous  squeezing,  the  change  certainly 
involves  a  considerable  alteration  in  the  arrangement  of 
the  particles.  By  very  simple  and  familiar  means  we  can 
reduce  slate  to  clay;  we  cannot,  on  the  other  hand,  make 
slate  out  of  clay  by  any  forces  that  have  yet  been  brought 
to  bear  upon  it. 

The  capacity  of  splitting,  carried  to  so  great  an  extent 
in  slate,  is  called  its  cleavage,  and  is  a  property  possessed 
in  an  imperfect  degree  by  many  minerals  when  they  pass 
into  the  crystalline  condition.  In  the  case  before  us,  how- 
ever, the  clay  can  hardly  be  said  to  be  altered  otherwise 
than  in  texture,  whereas  most  minerals,  when  they  be- 
come crystalline,  enter  into  new  chemical  combinations. 
Slate  is  thus  an  exceptional  mineral. 

Few  simple  minerals  exist  in  beds  of  clay,  although 
some  are  occasionally  met  with.  Thus,  in  many  places, 
a  peculiar  substance  called  heavy  spar,  used  in  the  arts 
to  adulterate  white-lead,  occurs  in  crystalline  form  in  the 
interstices  of  clay-beds,  while  transparent  crystals  of 
selenite  (sulphate  of  lime)  are  tolerably  plentiful  in  some 
of  the  beds.  Hard  lumps  of  the  size  and  shape  of  a  man's 
skull,  occurring  irregularly  in  many  clays,  consist  of  im- 
pure mixtures  of  carbonate  of  lime  and  clay.  These  are 
called  septaria,  because  they  look  as  if  they  had  been 
split  into  divisions,  or  septa,  the  cracks  being  afterwards 


CLAY   AND    ITS   VARIETIES.  75 

filled  up.  Such  lumps  are  often  collected,  and  serve  as 
the  foundation  of  hydraulic  cement,  which  sets,  or  hardens, 
under  water.  But,  although  there  are  these  exceptions, 
clay  generally  is  a  rock  unfavorable  for  mineral  wealth. 
Slate,  on  the  other  hand,  especially  when  near  granite, 
contains  some  of  the  richest  and  most  valuable  mineral 
deposits,  especially  the  ores  of  copper. 

In  addition  to  the  minerals  already  alluded  to,  there 
are  numerous  very  striking  and  beautiful  substances  in 
nature  which  are  so  very  largely  indebted  to  the  clay 
element  as  to  deserve  special  remark.  Thus  the  mineral 
called  felspar  is  also  a  silicate  of  alumina ;  but  either  soda 
or  potash  to  the  extent  of  fifteen  per  cent,  is  added  to  the 
combination. 

Now,  as  in  one  shape  or  other  felspar  and  closely  allied 
minerals  form  the  basis  of  all  the  granites,  and  also  of  all 
the  basalts  and  lavas,  all  over  the  world,  it  will  be  seen 
that  clay  assumes  a  still  greater  importance  than  we  have 
yet  attributed  to  it.  From  the  natural  destruction  of 
granite  under  certain  circumstances  are  produced  the 
finest  clays  for  the  manufacture  of  porcelain  j  and  from 
the  decomposition  either  of  basalts  or  lava  (the  name 
basalt  being  understood  to  mean  the  same  as  lava,  but 
employed  when  the  volcano  from  which  it  was  poured 
out  is  absent,  and  all  traces  of  its  origin  have  disappeared) 
the  finest  and  richest  soils  are  often  obtained.  Pumice, 
as  well  as  lava,  is  a  modification  of  clay. 

Even  some  precious  stones,  in  addition  to  the  ruby  and 
sapphire,  belong  to  our  vulgar  clays ;  for  the  garnet  and 
carbuncle  are  silicates  of  alumina  and  lime ;  emeralds  are 
silicates  of  alumina,  combined  with  a  rare  earth  called 


76  THE  STONES  OP  THE  BOOK. 

glucina,  and  beryl  is  a  mere  modification  of  emerald.  A 
vast  variety  of  comparatively  rare  minerals  have  also  a 
similar  composition,  including  all  those  common  in  vol- 
canic districts,  all  volcanic  ashes  and  minerals  thrown 
out  during  eruptions,  and  those  also  which  are  afterwards 
found  in  the  clefts  and  cavities  of  the  hardened  masses. 

Wonderfully  varied,  then,  are  the  forms  and  uses  of 
clay,  and  the  natural  combinations  of  mineral  substances 
of  which  clay  is  an  essential  part.  The  solid  foundations 
of  the  earth,  or  at  least  all  those  most  solid  masses  seen 
near  the  surface,  are  in  a  great  measure  due  to  it.  Huge 
mountain-masses,  covered  or  flanked  with  thick  envelopes 
of  limestone,  are  often,  to  a  depth  quite  unknown,  made 
up  almost  exclusively  of  minerals  and  rocks  of  similar 
origin.  They  put  on  various  shapes,  and  are  known  by 
many  names.  Our  streets  are  paved  with  them,  and 
some  of  the  most  enduring  monuments  of  all  ages  are 
chiselled  out  of  them  when  they  have  become  crystallized 
into  granites  and  porphyries.  Our  houses  are  roofed  and 
partly  furnished  with  them,  and  our  schoolboys  write 
upon  them.  Large  tracts  of  country  present  them  at  the 
surface  as  the  common  vegetable  soil.  Our  jewellers 
work  them  up  into  ornaments  for  the  person,  as  garnets 
and  emeralds,  beryls  and  carbuncles.  The  real  ultimate 
difference  in  composition  in  the  case  of  all  these  minerals 
is  wonderfully  small,  while  the  appearance  and  all  the 
essential  characteristics  are  as  distinct  as  can  well  be 
imagined. 

And  so  it  is  everywhere  in  Nature.  She  works  gene- 
rally on  a  large  scale  with  few  materials,  modifying  them 
and  preventing  monotony  by  the  occasional  introduction 


CLAY   AND    ITS    VARIETIES.  77 

of  small  quantities  of  other  substances  having  different 
properties.  A  little  iron  or  manganese,  a  small  propor- 
tion of  some  rare  earths  or  alkalies,  or  a  few  grains  of  sub- 
stances whose  effect  we  cannot  trace,  suffice  her  for  the 
production  of  a  myriad  of  curious  and  useful  modifications 
of  sand,  limestone,  and  clay;  and  thus  it  is  that  the 
essential  ingredients  of  clay,  slightly  added  to,  form 
numerous  important  minerals  and  rocks  that  we  should 
never  think  of  comparing  with  clay,  were  we  not  obliged 
to  admit  the  near  relation  that  exists  between  them. 

Clay,  then,  is  one  of  the  essential  and  abundant  com- 
binations with  which  Nature  works.  She  works  rarely 
on  a  large  scale  with  the  simplest  forms  of  matter,  and 
never  with  those  substances  that  are  exceedingly  com- 
plicated. The  great  results  are  produced  with  a  few 
mixtures  of  two,  three,  or  four  elements,  and  of  these 
the  mixture  we  call  clay  is  one  of  the  most  frequently 
and  largely  used,  and  one  that  produces  some  of  the  mosfc 
complicated  and  grand  results. 
7* 


er  %  $n\\ti\. 

CHALK. 

A  RIDE  over  the  fine  breezy  downs  near  Brighton,  or  a 
visit  to  the  chalk  hills  north  of  London,  is  a  pleasant 
treat  to  any  one  who  can  appreciate  pure  bracing  air,  and 
is  able  and  willing  to  recognize  the  peculiar  beauties  and 
characteristics  of  English  scenery.  There  is  a  soft  swell- 
ing undulation  about  our  chalk  not  elsewhere  seen,  a 
smooth  outline  of  richest  green  through  which  the  white 
rock  constantly  peeps,  and  at  intervals  a  wide  hollow 
sweep  of  that  dead  creamy  white  which  we  know  by  ex- 
perience to  mark  the  pit  from  whence  chalk  is  being  dug 
or  has  lately  been  removed.  Let  us  go  into  one  of  these 
pits,  or,  if  the  reader  prefers,  let  us  place  ourselves  in 
imagination  in  a  boat  under  the  broad  arch  of  some  of 
those  bays  at  the  back  of  the  Isle  of  Wight,  with  the 
picturesque  Needles  rising  like  ruined  columns  out  of  the 
blue  waves.  Everywhere  the  facts  are  the  same, — a  uni- 
form mass  of  white  soft  rock,  marked  with  lines  more  or 
less  removed  from  the  horizontal,  and  occasionally  thin 
strings  of  black  flint  indicating  these  lines  with  surpris- 
ing and  picturesque  regularity.  If  we  travel  round  the 
English  coast,  or  into  the  interior  of  the  country,  we  find 
this  same  chalk  very  widely  ranging.  We  ought  to  be 
proud  of  it,  for  one  of  our  island's  names,  ALBION,  is 
78 


CHALK.  79 

derived  from  its  appearance.  It  forms  the  Shakspeare 
cliff  at  Dover,  and  the  cliffs  at  Ramsgate  and  Margate. 
Beechy  Head  consists  of  it.  It  shows  itself  at  Cromer, 
in  Norfolk,  and  at  Flamborough  Head,  and  is  seen  in  all 
its  characteristic  features,  crossing  the  Isle  of  Wight,  and 
standing  out  beyond  it,  as  we  have  said,  in  isolated  pin- 
nacles of  extreme  beauty.  We  find  it  in  Salisbury  Plains, 
in  the  North  and  South  Downs,  in  Berkshire,  and  in  the 
Hertfordshire  and  Cambridgeshire  hills.  We  pass  through 
it  in  many  of  our  railway-cuttings.  We  dig  into  and 
through  it  for  water,  and  we  quarry  it  for  making  lime, 
and  other  purposes.  We  write  with  it;  we  even  occa- 
sionally build  with  it. 

Let  us  examine  it  somewhat  minutely.  We  all  know 
its  usual  color,  its  soft  texture,  its  purity  when  burnt  for 
lime.  Most  of  us  know  that  numerous  shells,  fragments 
of  star-fishes  and  corals,  and  even  perfect  skeletons  of  fish 
covered  with  scales,  are  occasionally  found  in  it.  It  is 
very  picturesque,  very  characteristic,  very  useful,  and 
contains  very  curious  things.  The  shells  that  we  find  in 
it  are  of  many  kinds, — some  almost  exactly  like  common 
shells  of  the  sea-shore,  some  very  unlike  those,  and  evi- 
dently belonging  to  races  extremely  different.  There  are 
fishes  in  it  not  much  like  our  sea-fishes ;  there  are  bones 
like  birds'  bones,  which,  however,  on  careful  examina- 
tion and  comparison,  turn  out  not  to  have  belonged  to 
birds,  but  to  have  supported  in  the  air  flying  reptiles, 
some  of  them  larger  than  the  largest  albatross;  there  are 
other  bones  that  have  not  yet  been  found  in  England, 
proving  that  very  large  reptiles  of  other  kinds  lived  when 
the  chalk  was  formed. 


80  THE  STONES  OF  THE  BOOK. 

But  all  these  are  comparatively  rare;  whereas,  if  we 
take  up  any  fragment  of  chalk  from  any  part  of  the 
mass,  and  make  a  careful  examination  of  its  particles 
under  the  microscope,  our  eyes  are  opened  to  a  fact  ex- 
ceedingly remarkable, — namely,  that  all  this  large  mass, 
often  several  hundred  feet  thick,  and  occupying  so  large 
a  part  of  the  surface  of  our  island,  seems  to  be  one  heap 
of  very  minute  shells,  either  whole  or  broken,  once  be- 
longing to  many  varieties  of  a  very  few  species  of  small 
animals,  such  as  those  now  found  at  all  depths,  but 
chiefly  abounding  in  the  deepest  profundities  of  the  At- 
lantic Ocean.  Powdered  chalk,  or  chalk  mixed  with 
water  and  reduced  to  a  pulp,  is  also  wonderfully  like  the 
mud  from  coral  lagoons  in  the  West  Indies;  but  a  large 
part  of  it  seems  absolutely  identical,  when  examined 
under  a  powerful  microscope,  with  what  is  called  oaze, — 
the  mud  brought  up,  in  a  state  almost  tenacious  and 
pasty,  from  the  bed  of  the  North  Atlantic  Ocean.  In- 
deed, it  would  seem  that  after  this  oaze  has  had  time  to 
allow  its  particles,  long  compressed  by  the  weight  of  the 
vast  column  of  overlying  water,  to  attain  their  natural 
state  under  the  diminished  pressure  at  the  earth's 
surface,  it  is  absolutely  undistinguishable  from  powdered 
chalk. 

Very  unlike  the  other  limestones  in  texture  and  some 
of  its  properties  is  this  chalk,  although  it  agrees  almost 
accurately  with  fine  marble  in  its  chemical  constitution. 
It  is  a  nearly-pure  carbonate  of  lime  j  the  particles  being 
minute,  and  only  held  together  by  adhesion,  not  cemented 
or  crystallized  in  any  degree  whatever.  tThis  condition 
explains  some  of  its  peculiarities,  such  as  its  earthy  tex- 


CHALK.  81 

ture,  allowing  us  to  use  it  for  writing  or  drawing,  and  its 
extreme  absorbency.  In  its  driest  state  as  a  solid  it 
contains  a  good  deal  of  water,  which  cannot  be  removed 
by  exposure  to  moderate  heat,  but  when  saturated  a 
block  measuring  twelve  inches  every  way  will  contain  two 
gallons  of  water,  very  nearly  one-third  part  of  its  total 
content,  and  about  the  same  proportion  that  is  contained 
by  soft  loose  sand. 

From  its  actual  composition  and  its  contents,  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  chalk  was  formed  at  the  bottom  of 
water,  and,  in  all  probability,  tolerably  deep  and  smooth 
water.  It  has  undergone  little  change  since,  for  the 
particles  of  which  it  is  built  up  lie  side  by  side,  appa- 
rently as  they  were  originally  placed.  Here  and  there  are 
threads  of  crystal  or  calc-spar,  and  occasionally  bands  of 
black  flints, — sometimes  touching  each  other,  sometimes 
asunder;  but  these  are  not  rolled  like  the  flints  found  in 
the  gravel,  and  the  chalk  that  touches  them  is  generally 
precisely  similar  to  the  rest  of  the  deposit. 

The  position  and  form  of  the  hard  angular  flints  may 
also  be  accepted  as  proof  that  they  were  produced  where 
they  are,  and  have  never  been  removed  since  their  crea- 
tion. The  evidence  of  this  is  indeed  quite  as  good  as 
that  by  which  we  judge  from  the  position  and  form  of  the 
rounded  pebbles  of  the  gravel-beds  that  they  are  due  to 
the  mechanical  force  of  moving  water.  Gravel  is  a  col- 
lection of  rolled  pebbles  and  sand,  while  the  flints  in 
chalk  have  never  been  rolled  for  a  single  instant.  We 
have  only  to  look  at  them  to  be  sure  of  this.  The  whole 
mass  of  chalk  is  probably  a  deposit  in  deepish  water  but 
little  disturbed,  and  the  flints  do  not  seem  to  have  been 


82          THE  STONES  OP  THE  BOOK. 

deposited  in  the  same  sense  as  the  chalk  has  been.  They 
do  not  seem  to  have  existed  at  any  time  as  mud  j  and  to 
understand  them  we  must  look  for  some  other  origin. 

Making  use  once  more  of  the  microscope,  we  may 
learn  something  that  will  throw  light  on  this  inquiry. 
The  examination  of  thin  slices  of  flint  reveals  the  same 
truth  as  that  often  indicated  on  a  larger  scale  visible  to 
the  unassisted  eye, — namely,  that  these  curious  black 
stones  contain  within  their  substance  sponges  or  other 
marine  bodies.  Not  unfrequently  we  find  the  spine  of 
some  old  sea-urchin  or  sea-egg  sticking  out  from  an 
unworn  and  unremoved  flint;  occasionally  a  shell  is 
there ;  very  frequently  there  is  a  peculiar  structure  re- 
minding  us  of  the  sea-anemone;  and  now  and  then  are 
corals.  Some  flints  are  hollow  in  the  middle,  the  hollow 
being  partly  filled  with  crystals  of  the  same  substance, — 
the  crystallized  flint  (silica)  projecting  inwards,  or  some 
small  detached  stone,  with  a  rough,  spongy  surface,  being 
loose  in  the  middle.  Every  thing  seems  to  prove  that 
the  flints  were  formed  by  chemical  agency,  brought  about 
during  the  temporary  stoppage  of  a  deposit  of  chalk-mud, 
and  while  the  pause  admitted  of  a  multitude  of  sponges 
and  other  marine  forms  of  life  being  accumulated  on  the 
ocean-floor.  Perhaps  some  eruption  of  hot  water,  charged 
with  silica,  may  have  taken  place  from  submarine  vol- 
canoes. The  number  of  beds  of  flint  is  very  variable  in 
different  places,  many  being  often  observable  in  a  single 
cliff  or  quarry,  while  elsewhere  a  great  thickness  of  chalk 
exists  without  any.  The  flints  are  generally  lying  on 
the  ancient  floor  of  chalk,  but  occasionally  they  occupy 
cracks  and  fissures  in  the  completely-formed  deposit. 


CHALK.  83 

The  way  in  which  this  curious  accumulation  of  flint  was 
originally  produced  in  the  mass  of  the  chalk  remains,  as 
we  have  already  seen,  a  mystery;  nor  is  it  quite  manifest 
why  the  beds  of  flint  are  sometimes  regular,  sometimes 
quite  irregular,  and  sometimes  altogether  broken  up. 
Whatever  the  reason  may  be,  it  would  seem  impossible  to 
suppose  that  the  whole  process  of  the  deposit  of  chalk- 
niud,  chiefly  by  marine  animals,  and  of  flint  hardening 
on  sponges  and  soft  animals,  can  have  been  completed 
without  the  lapse  of  a  very  long  period  of  time. 

But  the  fact  that  chalk  is  met  with  at  such  elevations 
as  Dover,  and  Beechy  Head,  and  the  Surrey  hills,  is  an- 
other startling  fact.  Originally  deposited  at  the  bottom 
of  an  ocean,  the  mud  of  former  times  is  now  a  solid 
mass,  several  hundred  feet  thick,  no  longer  near  the  sea, 
but  composing  the  whole  of  the  land,  at  various  eleva- 
tions, in  many  parts  of  England,  as  soft  chalk,  and,  in 
a  somewhat  harder  state,  in  Poland,  Moldavia,  and  the 
Caucasus.  Over  all  these  countries  then,  at  any  rate, 
there  was  sea,  and  perhaps  deep  sea,  when  the  chalk  was 
deposited,  although  some  of  them  are  now  in  the  centre 
of  continental  land.  Of  the  land  of  those  days  we  will 
not  now  speculate. 

The  bedding  of  chalk,  marked  very  distinctly  in  many 
places,  is  by  no  means  generally  horizontal,  as  we  know 
it  must  originally  have  been.  Certainly,  a  deposit  of  fine 
mud  at  the  bottom  of  water  can  only  have  been  produced 
in  parallel  and  horizontal  planes;  for  whatever  the  form 
and  irregularity  of  the  ocean-floor,  or  the  strength  and 
direction  of  marine  currents,  an  impalpable  mud  must 
certainly  have  been  originally  accumulated  at  a  dead  level, 


84          THE  STONES  OF  THE  BOOK. 

— the  mud  first  filling  up  the  hollow  places,  and  then 
covering  all  over  with  a  succession  of  thin  films.  But 
now  the  beds,  though  parallel  to  each  other,  are  no  longer 
horizontal :  generally,  they  are  tilted  up  at  an  angle  of 
several  degrees.  The  chalk  of  the  North  Downs  has  a  dis- 
tinct tilt  towards  London,  and  that  of  the  South  Downs 
towards  the  coast  of  the  British  Channel;  while  in  the 
Isle  of  Wight  and  the  coast  of  Dorsetshire,  not  far  off, 
the  beds  are  either  curved  over  in  magnificent  and  lofty 
arches,  as  seen  at  Scratchell's  Bay,  near  the  Needles,  or 
are  absolutely  vertical,  as  at  Culver  Cliffs,  on  the  east 
side  of  the  island,  between  White-cliff  and  Sandown 
Bays. 

The  white  chalk-cliffs  of  the  south  coast  of  England 
arc,  as  it  were,  repeated  and  reflected  by  an  almost 
similar  series  on  the  opposite  shores  of  the  British 
Channel,  between  Calais  and  Havre;  and  there  cannot 
be  a  doubt  that  the  mineral  deposit  is  continuous,  and 
that  the  separation  of  England  from  the  Continent  by  the 
waters  of  the  Channel  does  not  separate  the  chalk,  which 
is  only  covered  over  and  concealed,  and  not  entirely  eaten 
through.  But  chalk,  though  seen  in  abundance  on  the 
French  coast,  soon  passes  into  a  harder  limestone  in  the 
interior  of  France,  losing  its  peculiar  texture  towards  the 
south,  beyond  the  valley  of  the  Seine.  The  actual  com- 
position of  chalk  and  of  the  limestones  that  it  passes  into 
is,  however,  nearly  the  same;  and  there  would  seem  not  to 
be  much  change  in  the  shells  and  other  remains  of  ani- 
mals with  which  it  abounds,  although  the  mineral  pecu- 
liarities of  the  rock  are  quite  lost.  The  fact  is,  that  the 


CHALK.  85 

passage  of  chalk  into  limestone  is  an  event  altogether 
modern  compared  with  the  deposit  of  the  chalk-mud. 

Chalk  is  not  only  sometimes  covered  up  by  other  rocks, 
— such  as  clay,  sand,  and  gravel, — but  also  by  the  waters 
of  the  ocean,  which  between  England  and  France  conceal 
it  from  observation.  In  either  case,  by  very  simple 
means,  we  can  satisfy  ourselves  of  its  presence  by  the 
boring-tool,  the  dredge,  or  the  diving-bell. 

With  regard  to  the  solid  accumulations,  it  is  not  diffi- 
cult to  prove  that  there  are,  in  various  places,  small 
patches  of  such  substances;  but  in  the  great  valley  of 
the  Thames  these  entirely  cover  a  triangular  area,  mea- 
suring nearly  a  hundred  miles  in  its  longer  direction 
from  Hungerford  to  the  Essex  coast, — the  base  of  the 
triangle,  between  Ipswich  and  Sheppey,  being  fifty  miles, 
and  the  area  enclosing  more  than  two  thousand  square 
miles  of  country.  At  various  localities  within  this  wide 
area,  the  chalk  has  actually  been  reached  by  boring-ope- 
rations carried  on  for  water;  and  the  thickness  of  the 
deposits  amounts,  here  and  there,  to  more  than  a  thou- 
sand feet.  A  somewhat  similar,  but  less  extensive,  por- 
tion of  the  chalk  is  covered  by  similar  deposits  near 
Southampton. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  is  a  large  area  surrounded  by 
chalk-hills  clearly  traceable  from  Dover,  along  the  line 
of  the  North  Downs,  as  far  as  Alton,  in  Hampshire, 
there  rounding  and  connecting  with  the  South  Downs, 
which  terminate  in  the  sea  at  Beechy  Head.  On  the 
opposite  shores  of  France,  the  chalk-hills  in  like  manner 
recede.  Within  this  range  of  chalk-hills  are  sands  and 
clays,  but  no  chalk  is  found  either  on  or  beneath  the 


86  THE  STONES  OF  THE  BOOK. 

surface.  The  area  thus  excluded  and  cut  out  from  what 
would  otherwise  be  (as  it  probably  once  was)  a  continuous 
bed,  is  not  very  different  in  extent  from  that  concealed 
by  the  clays  on  which  London  is  built. 

Across  the  German  Ocean,  chalk  is  found  at  Faxoe,  in 
Denmark ;  and  a  soft  limestone,  of  the  same  kind,  with 
the  remains  of  similar  animals,  in  a  similar  state,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Meuse,  in  Belgium.  But  true  soft  chalk  is 
here  replaced  by  a  crumbling  mass,  while  in  France,  as 
already  stated,  it  becomes  harder.  It  is  singular  that, 
in  its  integrity,  the  chalk  is  almost  confined  to  our  own 
island,  and,  indeed,  to  the  eastern  side  of  it. 

When  holes  are  bored  into  it,  or  cuttings  made  through 
it,  chalk  is  found  to  be  throughout  very  uniform  in 
texture.  It  is  also  extremely  and  uniformly  absorbent  of 
water. 

In  the  interior  of  a  large  mass  of  chalk,  after  a  wet 
season,  if  the  whole  becomes  saturated,  it  is  certain  that 
any  empty  spaces  or  cavities  that  exist  will  be  also  quite 
full;  and  if  these  are  pierced  by  bore-holes,  and  the  water 
pumped  out,  a  large  supply  may  be  procured.  All  the 
water  that  falls  on  the  surface,  either  of  the  chalk  itself 
or  the  rocks  near  it,  will  almost  inevitably  be  conveyed 
into  the  rock,  which,  indeed,  acts  like  a  sponge,  besides 
being  everywhere  open  at  the  surface  by  many  small 
cracks.  The  mass  of  the  chalk  thus  acts  as  a  kind  of 
large  reservoir, — receiving  the  rain  that  falls,  retaining 
it  for  a  time,  distributing  it  in  the  earth's  interior,  and 
at  length  giving  it  out  again  for  the  benefit  of  men  and 
animals,  either  from  natural  or  artificial  springs. 

In  its  ordinary  state,  true  chalk  is  of  little  or  no  value 


CHALK.  87 

as  a  building-stone,  owing  to  its  softness  and  the  readi- 
ness with  which  it  is  reduced  to  powder  by  exposure  to 
damp  air  and  frost.  Still,  it  has  been  used  for  interior 
ornamentation,  owing  to  the  great  readiness  with  which 
it  can  be  cut;  and  instances  of  its  employment  in  this 
way  may  be  found  in  many  of  our  cathedrals  in  the  East 
and  South  of  England.  Methods  have  been  suggested  by 
which  the  specimens  in  certain  cases  should  be  hardened, 
so  as  to  be  no  longer  subject  to  injury  on  exposure  to  the 
air.  It  can  then  be  used  for  inside  building  and  decora- 
tion with  great  advantage. 

Most  of  the  chalk  is,  as  we  all  know,  remarkable  for 
its  peculiar  dead-white  color,  although  occasionally  there 
are  tinted  varieties.  The  chalk  near  Flamborough  Head, 
in  Yorkshire,  is  naturally  red;  but  the  colored  chalks 
used  for  drawing  are  artificial  productions. 

The  chief  use  of  chalk  is  in  the  manufacture  of  lime, 
whether  for  mortar  or  for  dressing  land.  For  these  pur- 
poses the  consumption  is  very  large,  the  chalk  being 
usually  burnt  in  kilns  in  the  pit  or  quarry  from  whence 
it  has  been  hewn,  to  avoid  cartage. 

The  lime  thus  obtained  is  very  pure,  but  this  is  not 
any  particular  advantage ;  as  lime  made  from  limestones 
having  a  little  clay,  or  sand,  or  iron,  makes  a  mortar 
which  sets  more  rapidly  and  is  harder  than  that  made 
from  pure  carbonates  of  lime.  Chalk  is  also  used  occa- 
sionally without  burning  to  improve  certain  kinds  of  soil, 
and  is  the  only  kind  of  limestone  of  much  value  for  such 
purposes. 

When  we  seek  for  the  origin  of  chalk  and  flint,  and 
the  circumstances  that  would  seem  necessary  for  their 


88  THE  STONES  OF  THE  BOOK. 

formation,  the  conclusions  we  are  forced  to  accept  are 
almost  overwhelming.  True  it  is  that  we  are  speaking 
of  a  rock  very  uniform  in  its  texture,  and  comparatively 
limited  in  its  range,  though  really  much  more  widely 
spread  than  one  might  suppose  from  the  hardening  it  has 
in  some  places  undergone,  which  modifies  its  usual  ap- 
pearance. An  inch  cube  of  this  substance  would  contain 
countless  millions  of  fragments  or  of  complete  shells  of 
one  small  tribe  of  animals,  and  would  be  almost  identical 
in  its  contents  with'  a  corresponding  cube  of  mud  taken 
partly  from  the  bottom  of  the  Atlantic,  anywhere  between 
Valentia  and  Newfoundland,  and  partly  from  the  oaze  or 
mud  at  the  mouth  of  the  Thames.  Since,  however,  the 
Atlantic  floor,  thus  covered,  measures  at  least  a  thousand 
miles  from  east  to  west,  and  probably  several  hundred  miles 
from  north  to  south, — its  thickness,  probably  irregular, 
being  quite  unknown, — so  the  area  of  country  occupied 
by  chalk  must  be  measured  by  hundreds  of  miles  each 
way,  and  its  thickness  is  known  to  amount  to  from  six 
hundred  to  a  thousand  feet.  Think  of  the  number  of 
individuals  required  for  such  vast  accumulations !  Truly, 
the  sands  on  the  sea-shore  are  as  nothing  in  comparison, 
and  might  be  taken  as  the  unit  in  so  marvellous  an  arith- 
metic! All  ordinary  descriptions  of  number  fade  into 
insignificance  in  comparison;  and  we  must  admit  that 
Nature  has  not  adapted  our  faculties  even  to  conceive  and 
comprehend  such  combinations  of  the  most  minute  atoms 
into  the  largest  mountain-masses.  And  yet  it  is  clear 
that  time  alone  is  needed  to  render  possible  the  results 
we  see  in  the  chalk,  even  assuming  that  its  whole  mass 
was  formed  as  the  bed  of  an  open  ocean  of  deep  water 


CHALK.  89 

Rapidity  of  growth  and  accumulation  correspond  with 
minuteness  of  organization.  The  smaller  the  animal,  the 
more  efficacious  does  it  seem  in  producing  large  and 
abiding  results;  so  that  for  every  bone  of  reptile  there 
are  thousands  of  visible  shells,  and  for  every  shell  millions 
of  these  little  invisible  habitations  of  the  simplest  of 
Nature's  productions. 

What  thoughts  crowd  upon  one,  in  thus  contemplating 
so  simple  an  object  as  a  chalk-pit!  Here  we  seem  to 
possess  unchanged,  except  by  being  lifted  up  into  sight 
for  the  convenience  of  study,  a  section  of  an  old  ocean- 
floor.  Here  are  the  proofs  of  ever-busy,  stirring  life, — 
most  busy,  and  most  powerful  and  influential,  when  act- 
ing in  its  simplest  mode,  and  producing  an  infinite  repe- 
tition of  similar  objects.  Not,  indeed,  that  these  are 
monotonous  in  their  resemblance, — for  here,  as  every- 
where, the  type  or  general  plan  is  the  same, — but  each 
individual  possesses  its  own  personal  existence,  and  some 
peculiarity  that  distinguishes  it  from  its  neighbor  and 
brother-atom. 

There  seems  nothing  now  going  on  strictly  analogous 
to  the  formation  of  beds  of  flint  alternating  with  the  fine 
chalky  mud  on  the  Atlantic  ocean-floor.  In  this  the 
analogy  fails,  and  we  are  forced  to  assume  that  the  flint, 
in  a  pasty  state,  or  having  the  consistence  of  a  jelly  (as 
is  the  case  in  certain  combinations  with  potash),  was  only 
an  occasional  deposit,  no  example  of  it  being  at  present 
known  to  us. 

Very  rarely  indeed  rolled  pebbles  of  granite  or  other 
distant  rock  have  been  found  buried  with  the  chalk,  and 
forming  part  of  it.  Out  of  the  line  of  drifted  icebergs, 
8* 


90  THE  STONES  OF  THE  BOOK. 

there  would  be  but  few  stones  and  pebbles  conveyed  now 
into  the  Atlantic,  a  few  hundreds  of  miles  from  the  land : 
so  that  we  need  not  be  astonished  that  such  an  event  was 
equally  rare  in  former  times.  What  goes  on  now  is,  pro- 
bably, only  a  repetition,  with  small  variations,  of  previous 
events ;  and  in  G-eology,  according  to  the  best  experience 
of  scientific  observers,  we  arrive  at  the  conclusion,  arrived 
at  long  ago  by  King  Solomon,  that  "  there  is  nothing  new 
under  the  sun." 

The  chalk  must  -be  regarded  as  one  deposit  of  a  great 
multitude, — a  mere  unit  in  a  host.  But  it  abounds  with 
interest  and  instruction ;  it  illustrates  a  recent  deposit  of 
the  most  curious  kind;  it  is  itself  very  peculiar,  and  un- 
like most  others,  and  it  well  deserves  careful  attention. 
Moreover,  it  is  essentially  an  English  rock,  and  produces 
a  very  distinct  scenery  in  those  parts  of  the  country  where 
it  prevails.  Being  strongly  marked  and  easily  recognized, 
and  also  pretty  widely  spread,  it  forms  an  admirable  start- 
ing-point for  the  young  geologist,  while  its  position  in  the 
great  series  of  rocks  adapts  it  still  further  for  this  edu- 
cational use. 


LIMESTONES   AND    MARBLE. 

CHALK  is  a  very  soft  kind  of  limestone;  but  being 
rarely  used  as  a  stone  for  any  purposes  of  construction, 
and  generally  burnt  to  turn  it  into  lime,  it  is  convenient 
to  separate  it  from  limestones,  as  we  have  done,  by  treat- 
ing it  in  a  chapter  by  itself.  Limestones  differ  from 
chalk  in  being  more  consolidated  and  less  earthy,  having 
while  buried  in  the  earth  become  to  a  certain  extent 
altered  by  a  process  which,  if  continued  long  enough, 
would  turn  them  into  crystalline  minerals.  Many  of  the 
limestones,  indeed,  are  already  partly  crystalline,  either 
here  and  there  in  the  bulk  of  the  rock,  or  else  in  cavities. 
Crystals  are  often  seen  shot  out,  as  it  were,  from  the 
walls  of  a  cavity,  although  all  around  there  is  no  appa- 
rent change  in  the  mixed  fragments  of  shells  and  fine 
particles  of  sand  of  which  the  stone  was  evidently  made 
up.  In  proportion  'as  limestones  are  of  closer  grain,  of 
firmer  texture,  and  more  compact,  they  approach  to  the 
condition  called  semi-crystalline ;  and  thus  they  pass,  by 
successive  stages,  into  marbles,  which  are  true  crystalline 
limestones. 

Limestone  is,  as  every  one  knows,  a  common  mineral 
enough  in  England,  very  large  parts  of  the  country  con- 
sisting of  little  else.  Vast  quantities  are  also  found,  not 

91 


92  THE  STONES  OF  THE  BOOK. 

only  in  most  parts  of  Europe,  but  generally  throughout 
the  world.  There  are,  however,  some  large  districts  in 
which  this  rock  is  absent,  and  others  where  it  is  not  to 
be  obtained  very  near  the  surface ;  and  as  lime  is  wanted 
not  only  for  building  purposes,  as  stone  or  mortar,  but 
for  mixing  with  and  forming  part  of  soils,  the  places 
where  limestones  are  rare  generally  suffer  much  from  the 
absence  of  them.  When  it  is  remembered  that  all  bone 
consists  chiefly  of  lime,  and  that  birds  require  it  to  form 
a  hard  coating  for  their  eggs,  the  necessity  of  this  mineral 
will  be  seen.  It  is  useful  to  know  how  to  recognize  the 
varieties. 

There  are  two  or  three  very  different  minerals  generally 
called  limestones :  one  is  the  common  carbonate  of  lime, 
such  as  Bath  and  Portland  stones  used  for  building. 
This  kind  passes  by  insensible  gradations  into  marble, 
having  the  same  composition  with  the  addition  of  some 
impurities.  Another  kind  is  the  magnesian  limestone, 
or  dolomite, — a  mixed  carbonate  of  lime  and  magnesia, 
also  a  building-stone,  and  unfortunately  very  notorious  as 
being  the  stone  of  which  the  Houses  of  Parliament  were 
built,  concerning  whose  early  decay  there  is  so  much 
discussion  at  present.  Gypsum,  or  alabaster,  much  used 
in  a  burnt  state  in  making  plaster  of  Paris  and  other 
varieties  of  plaster,  and  occasionally  sculptured  as  an 
ornamental  stone,  is  a  third  kind ;  but  this  is  a  sulphate, 
not  a  carbonate,  of  lime,  and  has,  therefore,  a  distinct 
chemical  composition.  The  two  first  varieties,  when 
burnt,  yield  a  hardish,  compact  substance  known  as  quick- 
lime, but  the  last  yields  plaster  of  Paris,  an  extremely 
fine  powdery  material,  having  very  different  properties. 


LIMESTONES   AND    MARBLE.  93 

Quicklime,  mixed  with  water,  heats,  swells,  and  falls  to 
powder;  but  plaster  of  Paris  absorbs  water,  and  imme- 
diately sets  and  becomes  permanently  hard.  The  differ- 
ence between  the  common  and  magnesian  limestones  and 
gypsum  is,  therefore,  practically  very  essential. 

Many  of  the  limestones,  such  as  those  used  for  build- 
ing, are  of  a  grayish  and  dirty  white  or  cream  color,  of 
very  uniform  texture  and  tolerably  hard ;  some,  like  those 
found  in  Derbyshire  and  Devonshire,  are  compact  enough 
to  take  a  high  polish,  but  being  colored  and  veined  are 
of  no  value  for  artistic  purposes,  though  much  used  for 
furniture  and  decoration,  for  which  they  are  well  adapted. 
Others,  again,  such  as  the  Carrara  and  Parian  marbles, 
are  used  in  sculpture,  and  are  known  as  statuary  marbles. 
These  latter  are  of  the  most  exquisite  white  tint,  and  show 
a  texture  like  loaf-sugar,  or  even  sometimes  like  virgin  wax. 

Of  building-stones,  again,  there  is  an  immense  variety, 
— some  of  them  being  hard  and  others  soft,  some  brittle 
and  others  tough,  some  full  of  shells,  some  made  up  of 
little  round  egg-shaped  particles  like  the  roe  of  a  fish  (polite 
or  roe-stone],  some  of  sandy  grains  easily  separated.  Most 
of  them  absorb  water  very  readily  and  in  large  quantity, 
and  when  exposed  in  building,  where  the  weather  affects 
them,  or  where  they  are  subject  to  alternations  of  wet  and 
dry,  heat  and  cold,  they  are  very  apt  to  become  rotten, 
the  sculptured  and  ornamental  parts  breaking  off. 

In  England  it  is  rare  to  find  limestones  of  a  dead-white 
color  like  chalk  and  at  the  same  time  extremely  hard  and 
close-grained.     Such  limestones,  however,  are  common ; 
enough  in  other  countries,  and  are  very  valuable  materials 
for  construction,  as  they  are  handsome  and  durable,  ab- 


94  THE    STONES   OF   THE   BOOK. 

sorbing  but  little  water.  Each  country  possesses  its  own 
materials,  and  those  of  one  district  are  by  no  means  always, 
nor  are  they  usually,  identical  with  those  of  another. 

Most  of  the  common  limestones  lie  in  beds  of  moderate 
thickness,  separated  from  each  other  by  an  intermediate 
bed  of  clay  or  rubbish,  or  of  stone  valueless  for  building 
purposes.  Very  often  these  beds  lie  horizontally,  or 
nearly  so,  and  they  are  almost  always  parallel  to  each  other; 
but  occasionally  they  are  tilted  at  a  high  angle, — a  position 
that  must  have  been  produced  by  some  force  lifting  them 
up  from  below  after  they  had  been  hardened, — and  gene- 
rally in  such  cases  the  beds  are  broken  asunder  and  more 
or  less  rotten  near  the  point  where  the  elevation  took 
effect.  When  limestones  lie  on  the  flanks  of  mountains, 
or  form  mountain-masses  reaching  to  the  clouds,  it  seems 
less  difficult  to  see  and  understand  the  mode  of  action  of 
the  force,  and  we  even  judge  of  its  magnitude;  but  when 
a  large  district  is  affected  by  moderate  and  very  slow 
elevations,  it  is  not  easy  to  trace  the  cause. 

All  limestones  when  in  the  earth  contain  a  good  deal 
of  water,  and  they  are  softer  and  more  easily  chiselled 
when  just  removed  from  the  quarry  than  after  a  few 
months'  exposure.  When  left  exposed  to  dry  air  the 
stone  dries,  and  a  hard  crust  forms  upon  it  which  resists 
the  action  of  weather;  but  if  used  at  once,  and  subject 
to  the  pressure  which  must  act  upon  all  stones  in  a  build- 
ing, before  the  stone  has  had  time  to  consolidate,  the 
weather  will  generally  have  much  more  effect  upon  it. 

Most  of  the  stones  in  a  quarry  very  near  the  top  are 
more  cracked  and  destroyed  than  those  taken  from  some 
depth,  so  that  many  quarries  now  are  completely  under 


LIMESTONES   AND   MARBLE.  95 

ground,  the  stone  being  worked  out  from  the  bed  within 
the  bowels  of  the  earth  just  as  coal  is  removed  from  the 
mine.  One  result  of  this  method  is  that,  with  care,  the 
best  bed  and  the  best  part  of  a  bed  of  stone  may  be 
secured ;  but  it  is  necessary  to  take  precautions  that  the 
stones  thus  brought  out  are  properly  dried  before  use,  as 
they  will  have  undergone  no  chance  of  weathering  until 
removed  into  the  open  air. 

An  old  quarry  and  a  quarry  where  the  stone  is  got  in 
the  open  air  is  a  picturesque  object  enough ;  the  steep 
face, — the  successive  steps  as  one  bed  is  worked  in  ad- 
vance of  another, — the  vegetation  bursting  out  from  all 
the  cracks  and  corners,  and  the  half-decayed  weathered 
look  of  the  parts  where  no  work  has  been  going  on  for 
some  time,  are  all  objects  on  which  the  eye  rests  with 
pleasure.  In  one  place  a  huge  crane  is  lifting  large 
blocks  to  a  truck, — in  another  a  puff  of  smoke  marks 
where  a  recent  blast  has  taken  place ;  while  the  approaches 
to  the  quarry,  with  their  rough  roads  and  broken  rails, 
form  a  contrast  with  the  surrounding  scenery  which  is 
eminently  favorable  to  the  picturesque. 

Those  quarries  where  the  whole  or  most  of  the  work  is 
carried  on  under  ground  and  out  of  sight  are  far  less 
interesting.  Opening  often  on  the  bank  of  a  river  or 
canal,  nothing  is  to  be  seen  but  a  small  tunnel  or  entry, 
the  wagons  bringing  out  the  stone,  already  reduced  to 
convenient  sizes,  and  ready  to  put  on  the  boats  lying 
alongside.  Still,  even  here  the  eye  rests  with  pleasure 
on  a  certain  contrast  of  Nature  with  Art,  which  rarely 
fails  to  produce  some  effects  pleasing  to  the  lover  of  the 
picturesque. 


yb  THE  STONES  OF  THE  BOOK. 

In  many  limestone  rocks  of  large  extent,  there  are 
caverns  or  open  spaces  communicating  with  the  outer 
world.  Among  such  caverns,  those  of  Adelsberg  in  Ca- 
rinthia,  on  the  road  from  Vienna  to  Triest,  arid  the  so- 
called  Mammoth  Cave  of  Kentucky  in  America,  are  the 
largest  that  have  been  described.  The  Peak  cavern  in 
Derbyshire,  the  caverns  in  Yorkshire,  Somersetshire,  and 
South  Wales,  those  in  Sicily,  and  Central  France,  and 
Bavaria,  and  others  in  the  Rock  of  Gibraltar,  are  well 
known  as  objects  of  curiosity  visited  by  strangers;  and 
some  of  them  afford  very  curious  facts  for  consideration. 
These  are  of  two  kinds:  one  having  reference  to  the 
mechanics  of  the  cavern, — the  way  it  was  hollowed  out, 
and  has  been  partly  filled  up  with  those  wonderful  appear- 
ances called  stalactites, — and  the  other  to  the  curious 
remains  of  animals  found  frequently  on  and  in  the  earthy 
floor  of  the  cave. 

The  extent  of  caverns  is  sometimes  very  great,  and  is 
often  quite  incapable  of  being  accurately  determined. 
The  more  interesting  of  them  consist  of  a  multitude  of 
passages,  often  narrow, — too  small,  indeed,  to  allow  a 
human  being  to  penetrate, — but  connecting  large  open 
cavities  lying  far  within  the  rock.  They  are  often  more 
or  less  full  of  water,  which  enters  and  gets  out  of  the 
chain  of  caverns  in  a  manner  scarcely  traceable.  The 
open  spaces  are  sometimes  large  and  lofty  and  well  ven- 
tilated, but  sometimes  they  are  smaller  and  nearly  choked. 
Nothing,  indeed,  can  be  imagined  more  irregular  than 
this  chain  of  open  cavities, — running,  perhaps,  for  miles 
under  the  earth  at  various  levels,  with  no  reference  to 
any  place  or  system  that  we  can  at  all  trace.  Almost  all 


LIMESTONES   AND   MARBLE.  97 

imestones  are  exceedingly  liable  to  be  penetrated  with 
these  irregular  holes. 

Within  the  cavern — the  walls  of  which  are  generally 
worn  and  often  smoothed,  as  if  by  the  passage  of  water — 
there  are  often  sheets,  columns,  and  pinnacles  of  stone, 
which,  when  undimmed  by  the  smoke  of  lamps  and 
torches,  are  half  transparent,  and  of  the  most  brilliant 
yellowish- white  appearance.  These  hang  down  from  the 
roof,  rise  up  from  the  floor,  arrange  themselves  fantastic- 
ally, as  curtains,  tables,  or  festoons,  and  even  take  the 
forms  of  animals  and  human  beings.  They  are  of  pre- 
cisely the  same  material  as  the  limestone  walls  of  the 
cavern,  but  are  easily  seen  to  be  of  different  origin.  By 
a  little  examination  it  may  be  found  that  all  of  them 
have  been  formed  in  connection  with  the  drip  of  water; 
the  water,  while  penetrating  through  innumerable  small 
cavities  in  the  limestone  rock,  takes  up  a  part  of  the 
mineral  and  carries  it  along,  eating  away  its  course, — 
partly  chemically  by  dissolving  the  rock,  and  partly 
mechanically  by  constant  rubbing.  When  it  reaches  an 
open  empty  cavity,  where  is  a  current  of  air,  the  water  is 
evaporated  and  the  stone  left  behind.  Such  is  the  his- 
tory of  that  variety  of  curious  and  beautiful  appearances 
seen  in  caverns, — the  magic  fountains  and  organs,  the 
cathedral  aisles  and  vaulted  roofs,  the  drooping  trees,  the 
crouching  animals,  the  busts,  and  the  apparent  vegetation. 
All  these  are  nothing  more  than  fantastic  forms  slowly 
and  gradually  accumulated;  and  the  wonderful  things 
told  about  them  are  due  quite  as  much  to  the  fancy  of 
the  describer  as  to  Nature  herself. 

The  floors  of  such  caverns  are  often  nearly  level  and 
9 


98  THE  STONES  OF  THE  BOOK. 

hard,  being  repetitions  of  the  same  half- crystalline  ma- 
terial, and  produced  in  the  same  way.  The  sheets  of 
limestone  on  the  floor  of  the  cavern  are  sometimes  called 
stalagmite,  to  distinguish  them  from  the  stalactites  that 
drop  from  the  roof.  In  the  limestone  floor,  in  the  mud 
under  it,  and  often  in  heaps  not  yet  covered  with  stalag- 
mite, there  have  been  found,  in  many  caverns,  numerous 
bones  of  animals.  Some  of  these  were  no  doubt  wild 
animals,  that  had  used  the  cavern  as  a  den;  some  were 
certainly  the  prey  -of  wolves,  hyenas,  and  other  savage 
tenants,  which  they  had  dragged  into  their  lair,  perhaps 
for  the  benefit  of  their  young;  some,  again,  seem  to  have 
been  carried  into  the  cave  and  buried  there,  when  un- 
usual floods  of  water  had  drifted  river-deposits,  mud, 
bones,  and  other  material  from  a  distance,  leaving  it  be- 
hind in  these  sheltered  places  after  the  waters  had  re- 
tired. When  the  bones  thus  found  are  carefully  ex- 
amined and  compared  with  those  of  known  species,  they 
are  found  to  belong  to  races  that  are  no  longer  common 
in  the  adjacent  country.  Thus,  in  England  and  West- 
ern Europe  there  are  bones  of  hyenas  and  large  bears, 
of  a  kind  of  tiger,  and  of  many  other  fierce  carnivorous 
creatures,  only  met  with  at  present  in  Asia  and  Africa. 
In  Brazil,  under  similar  circumstances,  are  bones  of  wild 
animals  equally  different  from  the  inhabitants  of  the 
neighboring  tropical  or  temperate  land;  and  in  Australia 
there  have  been  found  remains  of  kangaroos  and  wombats, 
much  larger  than,  and  very  distinct  from,  those  of  the 
present  neighborhood.  With  the  carnivorous  monsters 
in  our  English  caverns  are  numerous  bones  of  the  ele- 
phant and  rhinoceros,  and  even  of  the  hippopotamus, 


LIMESTONES   AND    MARBLE.  99 

mixed  with  fragments  of  reindeer,  and  of  a  very  large 
horned  deer,  long  since  lost  sight  of  among  existing 
races,  as  well  as  of  large  animals  of  the  ox  tribe.  Every 
.  thing  indicates  great  antiquity,  and  a  different  climate; 
and  yet  with  these  strange  associates  are  seen  chiselled 
flints, — evidently  human  weapons, — all  buried  at  the  same 
time.  The  condition  of  the  bones,  the  great  proportion 
of  some  one  species  in  each  cavern,  the  number  of  bones 
and  teeth. of  young  individuals  not  at  all  more  injured 
than  the  harder  bones  near  them,  and  the  fact  that 
many  of  the  bones  of  the  deer  and  oxen  are  much 
gnawed,  as  if  by  the  teeth  of  hyenas  in  the  hyena 
caverns,  and  not  at  all  so  when  the  cavern  was  apparently 
otherwise  owned,  all  seem  to  prove  that  the  caverns  had 
long  served  as  the  dens  of  these  wild  and  powerful 
animals. 

Limestone  presents  itself  in  nature  under  very  dif- 
ferent aspects.  Crossing  England  diagonally,  and  owing 
to  various  causes  not  much  developed  on  the  coast,  the 
peculiar  features  of  limestone  cliffs  are  not  much  seen  on 
our  shores;  but  in  the  interior  there  are  many  fine  and 
some  noble  specimens  of  limestone-cliff  scenery.  In  the 
beautiful  and  wild  valleys  of  the  western  part  of  York- 
shire, in  the  Peak  district  of  Derbyshire,  and  some  of  the 
river-valleys  of  Derbyshire,  especially  near  Matlock  and 
along  the  course  of  the  Dove,  the  bold  vertical  faces  of 
compact  limestone  rock  are  grand  and  picturesque  in  the 
extreme.  Something  of  a  similar  beauty  characterizes 
the  Chedder  Rocks,  and  others  adjacent,  in  the  Men- 
dips;  and  still  more  remarkable  are  the  deep  narrow 
gorges  and  richly-clothed  ravines  of  Linton,  in  North 


100          THE  STONES  OP  THE  BOOK. 

Devon.  These  specimens  of  scenery  are  well  contrasted 
by  the  hilly  parts  of  the  middle  of  England,  especially 
near  Cheltenham  and  Bath,  where  a  much  softer  rock  of 
the  same  nature,  but  very  different  texture,  presents  a 
correspondingly  different  appearance.  No  one  who  did 
not  carefully  examine  for  himself  would  suppose  that 
the  hills  of  Gloucestershire  and  Derbyshire  were  com- 
posed of  the  same  mineral;  for  it  is  difficult  for  two 
minerals  to  be  more  distinct  from  one  another  than  are 
the  limestones  in  these  localities,  in  respect  to  color,  hard- 
ness, compactness,  and  mode  of  resisting  or  yielding  to 
the  action  of  weather. 

Almost  all  limestones  may  be  found,  on  a  little  inves- 
tigation, to  be  made  up  of  beds  of  various  thickness. 
Between  the  beds  there  is  often  a  thin  plate  of  some 
other  material,  or  of  the  same  material  in  a  different  form. 
All,  without  exception,  of  the  limestone  rocks  are  also 
more  or  less  cracked;  so  that  water  has  access  to  the  inte- 
rior; and  thus  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  numerous 
springs  of  water  come  out  wherever  these  beds  are  cut  off 
abruptly,  on  a  hill-side  or  cliff,  and  that  in  all  limestone 
districts  the  surface  is  dry,  while  water  may  generally  be 
had  by  digging. 

The  minerals  found  between  beds  of  limestone,  or 
cemented  with  broken  blocks  in  former  cavities,  and  some- 
times crystallized  in  cracks  of  the  limestone,  are  of  great 
value.  Almost  all  the  lead  and  zinc  used  in  commerce 
are  found  in  the  shape  of  ores  or  stony  minerals  under 
these  circumstances;  and  often,  at  first  sight,  it  would  be 
difficult  for  any  one  not  familiar  with  minerals  to  distin- 
guish some  of  the  most  valuable  of  these  from  valueless 


LIMESTONES  AND  MARBLE.          101 

stones.  Even  iron  is  found  sometimes,  in  enormous 
quantities,  mixed  up  with  limestone,  and  looking  so  much 
like  it  that  for  a  long  time  it  has  been  regarded  as  a 
mere  variety.  Tens  of  thousands  of  tons  of  iron-ore  are 
now  obtained  from  beds  that,  a  few  years  ago,  were 
looked  upon  only  as  poor  and  worthless  limestones. 

While  chalk  is  made  up  almost  entirely  of  the  very 
small  shells  of  animals,  of  which  thousands  would  be 
required  to  bury  a  pin's  head,  most  of  the  harder  lime- 
stones are  equally  remarkable  for  fragments  of  shells 
and  corals  and  other  hard  coatings  of  animals,  which 
are  for  the  most  part  of  much  larger  size.  Such  com- 
mon shells  as  are  cast  up  on  every  sea-beach  will  in 
time,  and  by  long  accumulation,  occupy  an  important 
place  even  among  rocks ;  for,  with  water  constantly  run- 
ning through  them,  they  become  at  last  firmly  cemented 
together.  But  it  is  chiefly  by  the  work  of  the  coral 
animal  that  large  mountain-masses  of  limestone  have 
been  obtained.  Coral,  especially  certain  varieties  abound- 
ing in  some  tropical  and  warm  seas,  consists  of  a  curious 
mass  of  individuals,  with  one  common  jelly-like  living  sub- 
stance connecting  them.  The  whole  mode  of  growth  is 
more  like  that  of  a  plant  than  an  animal,  the  individuals 
resembling  the  leaves  and  flowers,  while  the  common 
central  mass  is  the  stem  or  trunk.  These  curious  animals 
are  able,  with  great  facility,  to  separate  from  the  salt 
water  about  them  those  few  grains  of  limestone  they 
require;  and  these  are  immediately  replaced,  because  the 
sea  washes  over  limestone,  and  quickly  sucks  up  as  much 
as  it  needs  when  deprived  of  any  part  by  animals.  There 
is  thus  a  never-failing  supply  of  lime  in  the  ocean,  and 
9* 


102  THE    STONES   OF    THE    BOOK. 

the  little  creatures  we  refer  to  have  been  pilfering  in 
safety  from  the  very  creation  of  the  world  till  now. 
What  they  take,  however,  they  at  once  use,  building  up 
with  it  a  stony  and  almost  imperishable  framework, 
which,  so  long  as  it  is  coated  with  living  matter,  does  not 
become  worn  or  wasted.  When  myriads  of  these  indi- 
viduals collect  together  in  a  mass  and  secrete  limestone, 
they  construct  walls  which  rise  to  the  lowest  level  of 
low-water,  commencing  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea  at 
some  moderate  depth.  If  every  thing  remains  in  the 
same  state,  a  fringe  of  coral  soon  forms  round  every  part 
of  an  island,  or  along  the  whole  of  a  coast,  that  has  once 
been  reached  by  the  animals, — except,  indeed,  where  an 
interruption  exists,  such  as  a  river  or  stream  of  fresh 
water  of  some  magnitude  entering  the  sea;  or  some  ex- 
traordinary and  abrupt  submarine  ravine  prevents  the 
advance  of  the  coral,  by  depriving  it  of  a  support  to 
build  upon.  Such  fringes  of  coral  are  well  known  in 
some  parts  of  the  world,  especially  within  the  tropics, 
and  in  the  warmer  waters  both  of  the  Atlantic  and 
Pacific  Oceans. 

But  besides  these  fringes  of  coral — which,  when  the 
animal  dies,  may,  if  not  washed  away,  become  coral  lime- 
stone—  there  are  other  equally  well-known  districts, 
where  the  coral  extends  to  a  very  much  greater  depth 
than  the  larger  kinds  are  thought  able  to  work  in, — the 
extreme  depth  of  coral  having  been  found  to  amount  to 
many  hundreds  of  fathoms,  whereas  the  larger  corals  are 
believed  to  die  if  removed  even  twenty  fathoms  deep.  In 
some  way  or  other,  it  certainly  seems  that  coral-beds  can 
even  now  be  prepared,  of  great  thickness,  as  well  as 


LIMESTONES   AND    MARBLE.  108 

covering  a  wide  surface-extent;  and  if  this  is  the  case  at 
present,  there  is  no  reason  why  a  similar  result  should 
not  have  been  obtained  formerly. 

Many  of  these  remarkable  and  extensive  limestones, 
to  which  we  are  indebted  for  much  of  the  picturesque  in 
English  scenery,  were  beyond  doubt  the  composition  of 
little  animals,  just  such  as  those  now  building  coral  in 
warm  latitudes.  The  results  may  be  seen  and  compared 
together,  and,  in  many  cases,  the  whole  form  of  construc- 
tion and  the  peculiarities  of  the  animals  may  be  identified. 
We  are  thus  bound  to  admit  the  close  resemblance  be- 
tween the  present  manufactures  of  the  coral  animal,  and 
those  ancient  and  crystalline  limestones  that  are  now 
quarried  for  building-stone,  or  those  which  are  carefully 
selected  and  set  aside  as  furnishing  marble  for  some  of 
the  most  elegant  manufactures  or  the  noblest  works  of 
genius. 

Limestones  form  the  staple  material  of  the  flanks  of 
the  Alps,  and  extend  in  still  greater  abundance  east- 
wards into  Asia,  scarcely  any  thing  else  being  seen  in 
the  Carpathians  and  the  Caucasus.  A  large  part  of  Italy 
and  Greece  is  also  made  of  or  covered  with  similar  rock. 
In  these  latter  countries,  marble  often  replaces  common 
limestone;  and  this  seems  owing  to  the  vicinity  of  the 
great  disturbing  forces  exemplified  in  the  elevation  of 
the  mountain-chains  to  the  North,  and  the  frequent  erup- 
tion of  melted  rock  and  hot  vapors  from  the  important 
volcanoes  of  the  South,  of  Europe.  Spain  is  not  less  re- 
markable for  its  marbles  and  limestone  rocks  than  France 
and  Italy;  but  they  are  less  known,  owing  to  the  rarity 


104  THE    STONES    OF   THE    BOOK. 

(till  lately)  of  any  commercial  or  industrial  activity  in 
that  country. 

The  second  kind  of  limestone  mentioned  at  the  begin- 
ning of  this  article — that  kind  which  is  known  to  mine- 
ralogists under  the  names  gypsum  and  alabaster — is  very 
different  in  many  respects  from  the  stones  just  described. 
It  is  not  often  in  regular  beds  of  great  extent,  being  far 
more  commonly  found  in  large  detached  lumps.  It  is 
very  much  softer  than  any  of  the  building-stones,  and  is 
either  of  a  dead-white  appearance,  like  chalk  (but  not 
soiling  a  black  surface),  or  else  nearly  transparent.  It  is 
more  frequently  found  with  sandstones  than  limestones. 
Large  quantities  of  it  are  obtained  from  Derbyshire  and 
Nottinghamshire  in  England,  and  from  deposits  around 
Paris,  and  in  Italy  near  Florence.  Egypt  also  abounds 
with  it.  When  pure,  whether  white  or  transparent,  it  is 
often  cut  into  vases,  lamps,  figures,  and  other  ornaments, 
some  of  which  are  of  great  beauty  and  value  j  but  for  the 
most  part  it  is  burnt,  and  in  that  state  sold  to  make 
plaster  of  Paris  and  other  plasters  by  various  treatment. 

There  is  another  kind  of  limestone,  quite  different  from 
either  of  the  two  described,  and  often  so  hard  as  to  be 
mistaken  for  flint.  It  is  found  in  pebbles  in  large  quan- 
tity in  the  gravels  of  Suffolk,  and  in  beds  in  some  other 
parts  of  England.  It  consists  of  rolled  bones  and  other 
remains  of  animals,  and  is  called  by  chemists  a  phosphate 
of  lime.  When  properly  prepared,  this  stone  serves  as 
an  admirable  mineral  manure  or  dressing  for  land  for 
agricultural  purposes.  The  pebbles  thus  used  were  at 
one  time  called  coprolites  (abbreviated  to  cops),  owing  to 
an  idea  entertained  that  they  were  petrified  dung.  Among 


LIMESTONES    AND    MARBLE.  105 

them,  however,  we  often  meet  with  such  things  as  ear- 
bones  of  whales,  parts  of  the  backbone  of  whales  and 
sharks,  bones  of  quadrupeds,  and  other  things,  that  point 
to  them  as  being  for  the  most  part,  like  the  common  lime- 
stones, due  to  animal  life  in  its  more  complete  form. 

Such  is  an  outline  of  some  of  the  principal  facts  known 
about  limestones.  We  may  sum  up  the  account  in  a  few 
words,  by  saying  that  they  are  a  group  of  stones  of  great 
usefulness  to  man  in  almost  all  their  varied  forms,  both 
directly  and  indirectly;  they  are  widely  spread,  they  form 
very  picturesque  and  characteristic  scenery,  and  they 
contain  mineral  wealth.  Most  of  them  are  directly  due 
to  the  influence  of  animal  life  at  some  period  or  other, 
often  very  remote ;  but  they  have  since  undergone  a  good 
deal  of  change,  and  hardly  now  resemble  what  they  once 
must  have  been.  Some,  no  doubt,  are  still  soft  and  little 
altered ;  but  most  kinds  have  been  converted  into  a  sub- 
stance which,  though  greatly  altered,  still  shows  its  origin 
very  clearly,  or  into  a  curious  half-crystallized  mass,  which 
gives  no  clue  at  all,  by  its  appearance,  to  the  history  of 
its  formation. 


ter  %  Sbixfy. 

SAND   AND    SANDSTONE. 

EVERY  kind  of  rock  when  ground  and  rubbed  to  a  fine 
powder  becomes  sand,  and  accumulates  in  heaps  or  is 
drifted  about  on  land,  or  else  is  carried  into  the  sea  by 
every  wind  that  blows.  In  addition,  however,  to  loose 
sands  thus  driven  by  the  wind,  there  are  many  places 
where  we  find  beds  of  sand,  of  great  thickness,  buried 
deep  within  the  earth.  Such  are  the  dark-red  irony  sands 
of  Bedfordshire,  the  paler  red  sands  of  Reigate,  the  white 
sands  of  Cornwall  and  elsewhere  (valuable  for  glass- 
making),  and  the  black  sands  of  Australia,  loaded  with 
tin  and  gold.  These  sands  are  sometimes  barren  and 
mischievous,  sometimes  abounding  with  metallic  wealth, 
and  sometimes  used  as  manure.  There  are  few  parts  of 
the  world  where  sands  do  not  appear  in  some  form  or 
other,  and  a  few  words  about  them  will  be  useful  and 
perhaps  amusing. 

There  is  an  old  Greek  story  of  Midas,  who,  when  he 
found  that  his  faculty  of  turning  into  gold  every  thing 
that  he  touched  proved  inconvenient,  was  enabled  to  part 
with  so  dangerous  a  power  by  washing  in  the  river  Pac- 
tolus.  The  fable  states  that  the  sands  of  that  river  have 
ever  since  contained  golden  particles ;  and  if  the  story  be 
true  as  to  the  general  origin  of  similar  phenomena,  it  may 
106 


SAND   AND    SANDSTONE.  107 

be  supposed  that  the  representatives  of  Midas  must  have 
heen  pretty  widely  spread  over  the  earth  in  early  times, 
— since  most  other  rivers  are  provided  with  similar  rich 
sands.  The  Rhine  is  one  of  these,  the  Tagus  is  another; 
many  of  the  smaller  rivers,  not  only  of  Europe,  but  of  all 
parts  of  the  world,  might  be  enumerated  as  other  exam- 
ples )  and,  in  point  of  fact,  there  are  very  few  streams 
proceeding  from  mountain  countries  in  whose  beds  particles 
of  this  precious  metal  have  not  been  found.  Golden 
sands  are  thus  not  rarities ;  but  the  difficulty  with  most 
of  them  is,  that  it  costs  at  least  twenty-five  shillings,  in 
labor  and  machinery,  to  obtain  gold  enough  to  make  a 
sovereign.  Such  deposits  are  not,  therefore,  of  necessity 
sources  of  wealth,  and  picking  up  gold  from  the  gutter 
may  be  a  far  less  profitable  occupation  than  tilling  the 
soil  and  obtaining  the  precious  metal  by  selling  the  crops 
grown  from  it. 

Still  there  are  parts  of  the  world  where  sands  are  well 
worth  washing  and  separating  in  order  to  collect  the 
valuable  substances  they  contain.  For  a  long  time  Brazil, 
then  Siberia,  afterwards  California,  and  more  recently 
Australia  and  British  Columbia,  have  been  very  remark- 
able for  their  rich  yield  of  various  precious  metals,  of 
which  gold  is  the  most  valuable  and  abundant.  In  all 
or  almost  all  these  cases,  the  sand  in  which  the  largest 
quantity  has  been  found  has  been  largely  associated  with 
pebbles  and  gravel. 

Although  it  is  true  that  all  rocks  except  soft  clay  yield 
sand,  while  even  the  crystalline  varieties  of  clay  itself, 
and  pure  alumina  in  the  form  of  emery,  afford  a  similar 
powder,  we  generally  understand  by  sand  the  powder  of 


108  THE   STONES  OF   THE   BOOK. 

siliceous  or  calcareous  rocks;  and  the  latter,  though  not 
very  uncommon,  are  more  conveniently  regarded  in  their 
chemical  nature  as  varieties  of  limestone.  We  will,  there- 
fore, limit  the  expression  in  this  chapter  to  the  fragments 
of  rock  that  have  been  chiefly  or  entirely  derived  from 
flint  or  silica. 

As  in  the  last  chapter  we  spoke  of  clays  as  silicates  of 
alumina,  considering  these  deposits  as  distinct  from  all 
others,  owing  to  their  composition,  so  here  we  propose  to 
take  into  account  another  distinct  class  of  materials,  form- 
ing numerous  mineral  varieties  and  extensive  rocks,  but 
all  of  which  consist  chiefly  of  silica  not  combined  with 
alumina.  Since  we  are  not  here  treating  Geology  as  if 
it  were  a  branch  of  Mineralogy  or  Chemistry,  we  have 
not  hesitated  to  take  the  substances  in  this  order,  because 
there  seemed  a  certain  convenience  in  describing  the  clays 
before  the  sandstones.  We  must  now,  however,  go  back 
a  little,  and  explain  what  is  meant  by  silica  and  the  rela- 
tion it  bears  to  the  element  from  which  it  is  derived,  and 
the  substance  (alumina)  with  which  it  is  so  largely 
associated. 

Silica,  like  alumina,  is  derived  from  a  kind  of  metal, 
but  the  metal  silicium  has  never  been  obtained  for  any 
purpose  of  utility.  In  this  respect  silicium  cannot  be 
compared  with  aluminium,  and,  indeed,  its  essential  pro- 
perties as  a  metal  are  hardly  known.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  mineral  silica  is  even  more  abundant  than  alumina, 
and  is,  in  fact,  almost  everywhere  present  in  all  soils  and 
rocks.  Silica  is  a  combination  of  the  metal  silicium  with 
the  gas  oxygen,  just  as  alumina  is  a  combination  of  the 
metal  aluminium  with  the  same  gas.  The  combination 


SAND   AND   SANDSTONE.  109 

in  both  cases  produces  an  earth  capable  of  being  crystal- 
lized ;  but  in  the  one  case  (silica)  the  crystalline  form  is 
very  common, — in  the  other  (alumina)  very  rare.  Silica 
is,  in  fact,  as  much  more  common  than  alumina  as  alumi- 
nium is  more  common  and  easier  obtained  than  silicium. 

The  further  combination  of  silica  with  alumina  we  have 
spoken  of  in  the  last  chapter,  and  need  not  now  further 
allude  to  it ;  for  there  is  quite  enough  to  describe  in  refer- 
ence to  silica,  and  the  various  forms  in  which  it  is  gene- 
rally presented  on  the  earth. 

In  the  first  place,  there  is  rock-crystal,  in  its  various 
forms  of  Brazil  pebble  or  Cornish  diamond,  amethyst  and 
cairngorm,  quartzite  and  sandstone ;  then  there  are  the 
agates,  chalcedonies,  cornelians  and  cherts,  onyxes,  blood- 
stones, and  a  number  of  others ;  after  them  the  flints  and 
jasper,  and  lastly  the  opals, — a  long  list  of  beautiful 
minerals,  many  of  which  are  used  and  valued  as  gems  or 
precious  stones ;  but,  as  we  purpose  to  devote  a  special 
chapter  to  such  objects,  we  may  pass  them  by  for  the 
present.  Those  we  now  wish  to  direct  attention  to  are 
the  sandstones  and  flints,  the  humbler  members  of  this 
large  and  decorated  fraternity. 

Flint  is  a  substance  so  common  in  certain  localities  as 
to  be  used  for  making  and  mending  roads,  and  occasion- 
ally for  building  walls  and  houses.  Elsewhere  it  is  en- 
tirely absent,  and  almost  entirely  unknown ;  and  as  the 
only  real  and  characteristic  flints  belong  to  the  chalk, 
either  being  found  in  that  rock  now  or  having  been  washed 
out  of  it  at  some  former  time,  wherever  the  chalk  is  at 
hand  the  flints  may  fairly  be  looked  for  at  no  great  dis- 
tance. But  they  are  not  always  found,  for  large  tracts  of 

10 


110  THE    STONES   OF    THE   BOOK. 

country  where  chalk  exists  in  abundance  have  no  flints, 
so  that  their  distribution  is  still  further  limited.  Most 
parts  of  England,  however,  can  show  them  either  as  be- 
longing to  the  district,  or  brought  there  accidentally  or 
by  intention :  so  that  we  need  not  describe  at  any  length 
these  dark,  half-transparent,  brittle  stones,  always  having 
the  same  appearance,  and  showing  the  same  clean  wax- 
like  surface  when  broken,  whether  we  have  removed 
them  from  the  chalk  in  which  they  have  been  long  buried, 
or  taken  them  from  the  heap  of  gravel  a  hundred  miles 
away  from  the  chalk,  or  picked  them  up,  rounded  and 
shapeless,  from  the  beach  at  Brighton  or  some  other  part 
of  the  coast. 

Flints  are  curious  stones  enough  in  their  way.  Under 
the  microscope  they  always  show  some  fragment  of 
sponge  or  the  shell  of  a  small  animal,  or  some  other 
proof  that  they  were  not  always  what  they  are  now. 
Not  unfrequently  we  pick  them  up  after  they  have  been 
broken  in  half,  and  may  see  that  there  has  been  a  hollow 
space  in  the  middle,  sometimes  partly  occupied,  some- 
times empty.  Here  and  there  is  a  flint  with  part  of  a 
shell  or  a  portion  of  a  sea-urchin  or  sea-egg  sticking  far 
into  its  substance.  More  frequently  there  is  unmistaka- 
ble evidence  of  a  sponge,  round  which  the  flint  seems 
to  have  formed,  and  altogether  it  is  always  a  puzzle  how  / 
it  was  that  the  flint  and  its  contents  became  associated. 
It  seems  quite  impossible  to  conceive  any  other  way  than 
by  the  flint  having  been  at  one  time  soft  like  a  jelly, 
a  substance  in  which  the  most  delicate  and  most  minute 
objects  might  be  caught,  and  where  they  might  be  pre- 
served until  the  jelly  became  converted  into  hard  stone. 


SAND   AND   SANDSTONE.  Ill 

Flint  is  one  of  the  purest  forms  of  silica,  although, 
from  the  dark  color  it  generally  has,  we  see  that  the 
transparent  rock-crystal  is  not  exactly  repeated.  Its  con- 
dition is  also  peculiar,  as  it  is  more  brittle  than  other 
varieties  of  silica,  and  is  more  readily  dissolved,  and, 
when  mixed  with  alkali,  converted  more  readily  into 
glass  than  the  rest.  One  of  the  great  uses  of  flint  now  is 
in  the  manufacture  of  glass  and  porcelain;  for  although, 
formerly,  myriads  were  required  for  our  muskets,  and 
they  were  used  with  steel  for  obtaining  fire,  these  uses  are 
now  quite  superseded.  Made  red-hot,  and  in  that  state 
thrown  into  cold  water,  they  very  readily  break  up,  and 
may  be  pounded  into  a  very  fine  powder;  or,  placed  in  a 
boiler  in  high-pressure  steam,  exposed  to  the  action  of 
potash  or  soda,  they  dissolve  completely,  the  result  be- 
coming afterwards  soluble  even  in  cold  water.  But 
though  the  state  of  a  jelly  may  thus  be  obtained  artifi- 
cially, the  flint  cannot  be  reproduced. 

Though  chalk  is  the  principal  nursery  for  and  nest  of 
flints,  many  other  limestones  contain  lumps  of  silica  more 
or  less  resembling  them.  Such  lumps  are  more  frequently 
of  a  dead-white  color  than  half  transparent,  and  are  then 
called  chert.  They  are  tougher  also  than  flint,  and  differ 
slightly  from  it  in  other  ways. 

By  far  the  most  common  form  in  which  silica  is 
found  in  the  earth  is  that  of  sandstone.  Rocks  under 
this  name  are  found  in  most  countries;  and  though  they 
differ  a  good  deal  from  each  other  in  minor  points,  there 
are  many  elements  of  resemblance.  Sandstones  are  gene- 
rally made  up  of  particles  either  of  fine  sand  or  very 
small  rolled  pebbles,  these  particles  being  in  some  way 


112  THE    STONES   OF   THE    BOOK. 

or  other  cemented  together.  Certainly  in  some  rocks 
there  is  no  foreign  substance  cementing  them,  and  they 
either  simply  adhere  by  close  contact,  which  is  possible, 
or  are  fastened  by  a  siliceous  paste.  More  usually,  the 
grains  are  cemented  by  something  like  mortar,  obtained 
naturally,  or  by  the  action  of  water  containing  lime  and 
iron.  The  ordinary  sandstones  are  of  the  latter  kind, 
and  vary  much  in  appearance,  hardness,  and  compactness. 
There  are  many  in  which  the  grains  are  of  different  sizes ; 
but  when  some  are  so  large  as  to  form  detached  pebbles 
of  the  size  of  a  pea  or  walnut,  the  whole  mass  has  a 
different  appearance  from  that  of  a  common  sandstone, 
and  is  called  a  conglomerate  or  pudding-stone.  In  Hert- 
fordshire and  elsewhere  there  are  large  blocks  of  this 
kind,  in  which  the  pebbles  are  cemented  so  strongly  that 
it  is  easier  to  break  the  flint  pebble  across  than  to  sepa- 
rate the  cement. 

The  colors  of  sandstones  vary  chiefly  according  to  the 
quantity  of  iron  and  marl  they  contain.  All  varieties  of 
yellow  and  red  are  met  with,  and  frequently  the  best  and 
hardest  kinds  are  of  a  pure  white  and  pale  gray.  Such 
are  the  stones  of  which  Edinburgh  is  chiefly  built, — 
stones  which  seem  to  be  unchangeable  by  any  amount  of 
exposure. 

In  Yorkshire  are  some  admirable  beds  of  sandstone, 
of  very  fine  grain,  which  split  readily  into  slabs,  and  are 
used  for  foot-pavement.  There  are  others,  equally  hard 
and  indestructible,  of  very  coarse  grain,  and  useful  for 
making  millstones.  In  the  South  of  England,  at  Black- 
down,  is  a  particular  kind  of  rather  coarse-grained  stone, 
valuable  for  sharpening  scythes,  and  sold  for  this  pur- 


SAND   AND   SANDSTONE.  113 

pose;  while  in  the  North  of  Scotland,  and  in  Wales,  are 
huge  masses  of  the  purest  and  most  compact  fine-grained 
stone,  almost  too  compact  and  massive  to  be  practically 
available. 

While  there  is  thus  a  great  variety  of  sandstones,  all 
equally  pure  and  useful  for  various  purposes,  the  middle 
of  England,  and  several  counties  in  the  west,  especially 
Devonshire,  Warwickshire,  and  Cheshire,  abound  with  a 
much  softer  kind,  easily  cut  and  very  cheap,  but  soon 
falling  to  pieces  when  exposed  to  damp  air.  Near  Liver- 
pool there  are  large  quarries  of  such  stone,  and  the  great 
salt  deposits  of  Cheshire  and  Worcestershire  are  among 
them.  The  alternate  mud  and  sand  of  these  deposits  has 
been  the  cause  of  some  of  the  most  curious  and  interest- 
ing discoveries  of  modern  times. 

To  understand  clearly  the  nature  and  value  of  these 
discoveries,  let  the  reader  watch  for  a  while  some  gently- 
shelving  beach,  where  there  are  moving  sands  and  occa- 
sional mud.  In  consequence  of  the  variable  height  of 
the  tides,  which  are  not  only  periodically  high  and  low, 
according  to  the  moon's  age,  but  which  are  also  greatly 
affected  by  prevailing  winds,  there  are  always  large 
patches  on  such  a  beach  which  the  water  occasionally  but 
rarely  reaches;  there  are  others,  reached  perhaps  every 
fortnight  at  spring  tides,  and  the  rest  covered  almost 
every  tide.  Rills  of  fresh  water  often  wash  fine  mud 
over  such  flat  sands,  leaving  the  mud  on  the  surface,  and 
filling  up  hollows  with  it.  Almost  the  whole  surface, 
whenever  it  is  wetted,  will  be  covered  with  worm-casts, 
or  scratched  with  the  trail  of  marine  insects  and  crabs, 
indented  by  the  footprints  of  birds  and  small  quadrupeds, 
10* 


114  THE   STONES   OF  THE   BOOK. 

or  spotted  over  with  little  pits  made  by  heavy  driving 
rain.  After  being  wetted,  the  sun  shining  on  the  sur- 
face will  dry  and  crack  it.  If  in  this  state  the  mud  is 
deposited  in  a  thin  film  over  every  thing,  and  another 
deposit  of  sand  happens  to  be  drifted  by  the  wind  so  as 
to  cover  up  and  conceal  the  previous  marks,  it  is  quite 
possible  that  all  of  them  may  be  permanently  preserved. 
They  are  as  it  were  stereotyped,  and  will  remain  as  long 
as  the  sands  remain,  whether  they  continue  soft  or  are 
hardened  into  stone.  Now,  precisely  what  might  thus 
happen  at  any  time  has  happened  in  former  times ;  and 
we  have  in  some  of  the  stone-quarries  near  Liverpool,  and 
others  in  Warwickshire,  many  beds  of  stone,  of  which 
the  surface  is  marked  all  over  with  footprints  and  other 
indentations. 

And  this  is  the  case  not  in  England  only,  but  in  Ger- 
many, in  various  parts  of  North  America,  and  elsewhere, 
— generally  in  particular  kinds  of  sandstone,  adapted  to 
retain  the  impression.  Here  are  to  be  found,  then,  the 
footprints  of  scores  of  animals  that  lived  on  the  shores 
of  islands  or  continents  at  the  very  distant  time  when 
the  great  series  of  rocks  that  now  form  the  dry  land  in 
the  interior  of  the  country  had  not  even  begun  to  texist. 
All  such  animals,  and  all  like  them,  have  long  since 
ceased  to  live.  The  conditions  of  existence  have  changed, 
and  the  animals  have  changed  with  them. 

Examining  these  curious  markings,  we  are,  however, 
in  a  condition  to  judge  in  some  measure  of  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  land  and  sea  at  the  time  they  were  pro- 
duced. Among  a  number  of  round  pits,  where  rain 
once  fell,  are  numerous  little  irregular  heaps,  thrown  up 


SAND   AND   SANDSTONE.  115 

by  ancient  worms,  multitudes  of  lines  such  as  are  made 
by  small  crabs  working  their  sidelong  way  to  the  water, 
and  not  a  few  broad  thick  lines,  crossing,  nearly  at 
right  angles,  the  marks  of  ancient  cracks  in  the  mud 
and  sand.  All  these  are  easily  seen  and  understood. 
But  besides  them  are  others  less  familiar.  Triangular 
footprints,  as  of  birds,  are  mixed  with  marks  of  the  step 
of  some  small  but  heavy  animal, — perhaps  an  ancient 
turtle;  and  here  and  there  are  huge  clumsy  indenta- 
tions, more  like  the  effect  of  a  large  hand  than  a  foot 
pressing  on  the  sand.  These  hand-like  marks  are  in 
sets  of  two,  not  four, — the  corresponding  two  being  not 
only  much  smaller,  but  generally  obliterated.  It  would 
seem  that  the  animal  must  have  resembled  in  its  propor- 
tions those  living  kinds  which,  like  the  kangaroo  among 
quadrupeds  and  the  frog  among  reptiles,  have  two  large 
hind-feet  and  two  very  small  fore-feet.  But  no  animal 
now  lives,  of  either  class,  capable  of  producing  such  a 
footmark;  and,  until  some  bones  of  the  animal  could  be 
found,  it  was  hopeless  to  speculate  on  its  nature.  At 
last,  in  rocks  not  far  off,  and  of  the  same  kind,  bones  and 
teeth  were  found,  which  proved  that  a  reptile  had  lived 
whose  proportions  correspond  with  those  of  the  frog,  but 
whose  dimensions  exceed  those  of  the  largest  kangaroo. 
Thus  have  the  rough  marks  left  in  sand,  and  filled  up 
with  mud,  on  some  ancient  seashore,  introduced  us  to 
the  knowledge  of  an  animal  so  entirely  unlike  any  living 
creature,  that  the  wildest  imagination  could  not  pre- 
viously have  imagined  the  possibility  of  its  existence. 

Sandstones  in  which  such  markings  are  common,  being 
for  the  most  part  alternations  of  perishable  and  imperish- 


116          THE  STONES  OF  THE  BOOK. 

able  material,  are  not  very  valuable  for  building  pur- 
poses, though  used  to  some  extent,  when  at  hand,  on  ac- 
count of  their  cheapness.  Much  of  the  town  of  Liver- 
pool is  built  of  them.  They  are  very  absorbent  of  water, 
holding  large  quantities  in  ordinary  seasons,  though  in 
time  of  great  drought  they  cannot  be  depended  on.  The 
water  they  contain,  when  exhausted  by  continual  pump- 
ing, is  apt  to  become  salt,  especially  when  the  place  is 
not  distant  from  the  sea. 

Large  quantities  of  common  salt,  often  in  crystals,  are 
found  in  some  of  the  sandstones,  and  in  that  case  the 
salt  may  be  got  away  by  mining.  There  are  not  many 
known  localities  where  this  kind  of  salt-mining  can  be 
carried  on,  as  it  is  far  more  common  to  find  brine  springs 
than  solid  salt.  So  large  is  the  quantity  of  water  filter- 
ing constantly  through  the  earth,  and  so  few  the  cases 
where  it  does  not  pass  through  porous  rocks,  however  far 
they  may  be  from  the  surface  of  the  ground  or  from  the 
sea,  that  it  is  rare  to  meet  with  large  and  important  de- 
posits of  rock-salt.  The  gypsum,  or  plaster-stone,  which 
is  another  accompanying  mineral,  is  much  more  com- 
monly found. 

Neither  salt  nor  gypsum  is,  however,  found  in  those 
hard  compact  gray  sandstones,  free  from  clay  and  iron, 
that  are  common  in  Derbyshire,  Yorkshire,  and  else- 
where, where  the  sandstone  is  simple  in  its  composition, 
and  tends  apparently  to  turn  into  a  yet  more  compact 
and  even  crystalline  mass.  Of  such  a  nature  is  the 
beautiful  white  quartz-rock  of  the  Stiper  Stones  near 
Shrewsbury.  A  large  quantity  of  similar  rock  exists  in 
Scotland.  It  is  too  hard  and  works  too  irregularly  to  be 


SAND   AND   SANDSTONE.  117 

available  for  any  useful  purpose,  except  indeed  for  road 
material;  and  its  sharp-cutting  edges  and  want  of  tough- 
ness do  not  well  fit  it  even  for  that  purpose. 

Lumps  and  even  larger  deposits  of  bitumen  are  found 
in  rock  of  this  kind,  but  they  are  of  no  value  generally, 
owing  to  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  the  mineral.  Some 
loose  sandstones,  however,  especially  those  in  the  South 
of  France  and  the  Pyrenees,  abound  so  much  with  pitchy 
matter  that  it  is  found  profitable  to  export  them.  They 
form  the  basis  of  the  asphalte  pavement,  more  used  in 
France  than  England,  and  perhaps  better  adapted  to  a 
moderate  than  excessive  amount  of  wear.  Asphalte  is, 
however,  a  useful  and  valuable  material. 

Sandstones  are  better  fitted  for  conveying  water  through 
the  earth,  for  yielding  it  in  natural  springs  at  a  hill-side, 
or  for  retaining  large  stores  under  ground,  than  any  other 
rock.  But  for  this  purpose  the  sandstone  must  be  open 
and  porous,  and  must  rest  on  a  bed  of  stiff  clay  or  hard 
compact  rock. 

Few  remains  of  animals  are  preserved  in  rocks  of  this 
kind.  When  the  particles  of  sand  have  been  much  rolled 
about  before  forming  the  stone,  it  is  natural  that  most  of 
the  fragments  of  bone  and  shell,  being  softer  than  the 
sand,  should  be  ground  to  fine  powder.  When  a  deposit 
is  rapid,  the  state  in  which  the  stones  and  sand  are  accu- 
mulated is  unfavorable  for  the  preservation  of  animal 
remains.  Still,  there  are  some  districts  where  excep- 
tional causes  have  acted,  and  fossils  occur.  In  such 
cases  fragments  of  vegetation  are  more  common  than 
animal  remains,  and  large  quantities  of  wood,  now  formed 
into  coal  and  accumulated  as  stores  of  mineral  fuel,  alter- 


118  THE    STONES   OP   THE   BOOK. 

nate  with  sandstones  in  which  are  the  remains  of  ancient 
forests  in  various  states  of  preservation.  Leaves  of  ferns, 
trunks  of  trees,  and  even  sometimes  very  delicate  and 
destructible  parts  of  plants,  have  been  thus  handed  down 
in  sand-rocks  for  our  examination. 

In  some  places  gigantic  trees,  thus  buried,  have  not 
been  destroyed,  although,  doubtless,  they  were  lost  sight 
of  from  the  earth  for  scores  of  thousands  of  years. 
Fruits  of  such  trees,  as  well  as  the  trunks  and  leaves, 
remain  to  speak  to  their  nature,  and  they  point  out  to  us 
the  peculiarities  of  the  forests  that  supplied  the  coal 
which  we  use  and  waste  without  thought  of  its  origin. 

Minerals  are  not  rare  in  sandstones.  The  whole  large 
family  of  those  that  are  strictly  varieties  and  modifica- 
tions of  quartz  or  rock  crystal,  and  that  have  some  value 
and  interest  as  gems,  we  leave  to  another  chapter. 
Others,  incidental  and  not  essential,  are  present  in  the 
crevices  and  veins  that  abound  in  the  hardest  and  most 
compact  varieties  of  sandstone-rocks.  The  most  precious 
of  all  metals,  gold,  often  occupies  the  little  interstices  in 
the  half-crystalline  quartz  that  forms  reefs  or  ledges, — 
the  local  name  for  veins  and  bands  of  quartz  in  sandstone 
rock.  It  is  true  that  most  of  the  gold  obtained  for  com- 
merce has  been  hitherto  got  from  the  sands  already 
broken  off  from  these  ledges,  but  a  very  important 
quantity  is  now  worked  from  the  solid  vein,  both  in  Aus- 
tralia and  California.  This  work  is  hardly  less  specula- 
tive than  the  ordinary  mode  of  washing  sands,  and  is 
not  more  frequently  successful. 

Diamonds  in  India  and  Brazil,  topazes  in  Australia, 
and  other  valuable  gems  elsewhere,  are,  in  nature,  asso- 


SAND   AND    SANDSTONE.  119 

ciated  with  quartz,  and  are  often  found  in  sands  and 
gravel.  Tin  is  obtained  from  sands,  just  in  the  same 
way  that  gold  is,  and  there  is  a  remarkable  instance  in 
Australia  of  both  these  heavy  metals  being  found  together 
in  large  quantities,  in  a  peculiar  black  sand,  that  was  for 
a  long  time  regarded  as  without  value. 

Under  the  name  of  quartz  and  quartzite,  crystalline  sand- 
stones are  in  some  places  developed  either  into  projecting 
veins,  penetrating  other  rocks,  and  forming  picturesque  ob- 
jects jutting  into  the  air,  or  they  occupy  important  positions 
in  mountain  countries,  remarkable  alike  for  their  pictu- 
resqueness  and  absolute  barrenness.  The  Stiper  Stones, 
a  singularly  striking  group  of  rocks  in  Shropshire,  are 
not  less  favorable  illustrations  of  the  one  condition  than 
are  the  rocks  in  some  parts  of  Scotland  of  the  other. 
Pure  white  in  color,  jagged  and  broken  in  outline,  un- 
mixed with  other  mineral,  untouched  by  decay,  uncolored 
by  moss  or  lichen,  these  singular  examples  of  the  useless- 
ness  of  those  forms  of  matter  that  resist  change  stand 
out  in  relief,  and  tell  a  lesson  of  no  small  importance  to 
human  nature. 

It  is,  indeed,  by  no  means  the  simple  minerals  in  a 
crystalline  state  that  are  useful  and  available.  For  rich 
soils  a  mixture  of  a  large  number  of  minerals  is  essential, 
and  even  for  a  soil  to  provide  any  sustenance  except  for 
grasses,  something  more  than  rock  is  needed.  No  doubt, 
if  the  quartz  is  in  a  fine  state  of  division,  and  thus  acts 
as  a  sponge,  it  will,  by  retaining  a  certain  quantity  of 
moisture,  admit  of  certain  growth;  but  there  are  some 
natural  cases  of  finely  honeycombed  quartz  absolutely 
barren,  proving  that  without  the  actual  breaking  up  of 


120  THE    STONES    OF    THE    BOOK. 

the  mineral  into  the  finest  grains,  so  as  to  allow  of  capil- 
lary action,  there  is  no  means  of  supplying  what  plants 
require.  Water  has  no  effect  in  decomposing  quartz,  nor 
is  it  affected  by  any  of  the  ordinary  acids. 

While  therefore  silica,  in  its  combined  form,  is  one  of 
the  most  useful  and  important  of  minerals,  and  is  present 
in  almost  every  part  of  every  mass  of  matter  upon  earth, 
yet  in  its  pure  state  it  is,  though  occasionally  met  with, 
of  comparatively  small  interest  and  value.  It  is  then 
almost  a  curiosity,  or  might  be  so  if  less  common;  and, 
except  for  its  picturesqueness  when  in  a  mountain  dis- 
trict, it  would  be  regarded  only  as  a  worthless  material, 
interfering  with  vegetable  growth. 


GRANITE,  GEANITIO  ROCKS,  AND  LAVA. 

THERE  are  stones  of  a  kind  different  from  any  of  those 
we  have  been  describing  in  the  last  four  chapters.  There 
are  superb  but  intractable  granites,  whose  crystals  are  of 
substances  not  affected  by  water,  of  which  the  adjacent 
rocks  are  altered  as  if  by  heat,  and  whose  structure  is  so 
close  and  firm  that  no  trace  of  water-action  can  be  seen. 
There  are  black  cindery-looking  heaps,  the  results  of  an 
outpouring  of  molten  rock  that  has  taken  place  within 
the  memory  of  the  children  who  sport  about  the  still  hot 
ashes.  There  are  other  equally  black  columns  of  stone 
that  are  not  modern,  but  that  are  quite  as  plainly  the  re- 
sults of  some  great  conflagration  within  the  earth.  All 
these  are  stones  that  have  passed  through  the  fire.  These 
are  the  materials  we  have  to  describe  and  consider  in  the 
present  chapter. 

And  first  for  the  granites.  To  understand  them  we 
must  study  them  first  where  they  run  out  in  sharp  reefs 
and  rocks,  apparently  detached  beyond  the  extremity  of 
some  land,  and  where  they  lie  in  wait  for  unhappy  ships, 
which  too  often  drift  upon  them  and  are  wrecked  in  sight 
of  home.  Such  granite  forms  the  Scilly  Islands  and* 
Bocks  beyond  Land's  End,  in  Cornwall;  it  forms  the 
11  121 


122         THE  STONES  OF  THE  BOOK. 

rocks  that  render  the  navigation  of  the  Channel  Islands 
so  dangerous ;  it  recurs  at  intervals  all  along  the  western 
coast  of  Europe,  chiefly  when  the  land  terminates  in  long 
promontories.  The  delight  of  the  artist  and  lover  of  the 
picturesque,  it  is  more  dreaded  than  admired  by  the  sailor 
and  the  ship-owner.  It  is  one  of  the  natural  guardians 
of  our  island  home,  but,  like  other  guards,  it  exacts  its 
payment. 

Granite  must  next  be  seen  and  examined  in  the  cliff. 
Bold,  grand,  naked,  and  terrible,  the  granite  cliff  reveals 
the  source  of  the  danger  arising  from  the  detached  rocks 
of  the  same  material.  There  are  fine  specimens  in  Nor- 
way and  Scotland,  almost  equally  fine  in  Cornwall  and 
Brittany,  and  others  more  accessible  and  quite  as  grand 
and  characteristic  in  the  islands  of  Jersey,  Guernsey,  and 
Sark.  To  every  one  who  has  an  eye  and  taste  for 
scenery — to  every  one  who  can  appreciate  bold,  noble, 
and  picturesque  outlines,  and  loves  to  see  Nature  in  her 
wildest  moods — there  are  no  spots  within  reach  more  in- 
structive and  finer  than  the  coasts  of  these  little  islands. 
There  the  granite  may  be  studied  in  all  varieties  of  form 
and  color.  Black  and  frowning  cliffs,  where  the  intense 
but  soft  darkness  of  hornblende  crystals  gives  a  distinct 
character  to  the  coast, — broad  lines  of  white  quartz  or 
pink  felspar  intersecting  the  mass, — other  narrower  lines 
of  white  and  pink  or  gray  color  crossing  these  at  right 
angles, — these  are  the  ordinary  conditions.  Often  covered 
with  sea-weed  near  the  water-line,  and  with  tufts  of  grass 
or  trees  jutting  out  from  the  higher  parts,  these  cliffs  ex- 
hibit a  certain  amount  of  vegetation,  but  this  is  rarely 
sufficient  to  conceal  the  structure  of  the  rock.  Varieties 


GRANITE,  GRANITIC   ROCKS,  AND   LAVA.  123 

of  color  are  common,  but  granite,  commonly  so  called. 
is  rather  pink  than  dark-green  in  its  general  tint. 

It  is  not  only  color  that  is  seen  in  granite  cliffs,  and 
that  distinguishes  this  rock  from  others.  Form  is  equally 
remarkable.  There  is  a  bold,  rugged  wildness  in  the 
naked  rocks  and  peaks  of  granite  that  cannot  easily  be 
mistaken.  There  is  also  a  general  want  of  vegetation, 
not  universal,  but  affecting  most  parts  of  the  rock  not 
decomposed  or  broken  by  veins.  The  veins  themselves 
are  characteristic  in  the  highest  degree.  They  are  as 
beautiful  as  they  are  useful.  Some  are  white,  vertical, 
narrow,  and  of  a  zigzag  broken  shape,  like  lightning- 
forks.  Some  are  broad,  regular,  and  monotonous.  Some 
are  threads  darting  into  and  penetrating  the  solid  rock 
in  the  most  singular  manner.  Some  are  wide  fissures  of 
the  rock,  filled  up  with  crystalline  material,  not  extremely 
unlike  the  rock  itself. 

There  are  other  forms  of  granite, — broad,  large  rounded 
mountains,  as  well  as  needles,  rising  out  of  perpetual  snow 
and  shooting  into  the  sky,  far  above  the  clouds  that  con- 
ceal the  sun  from  the  plains  below.  The  rounded  masses 
are  not  unfrequently  covered  with  stunted  vegetation  or 
with  peat-bog.  Smooth  surfaces  of  granite  often,  how- 
ever, terminate  seaward  with  picturesque  cliffs;  for 
granite,  as  well  as  the  softest  chalk  and  loose  sand,  can 
be  undermined  and  eaten  away  by  water,  and  often  pre- 
sents appearances  of  strength  and  permanence  which  are 
by  no  means  justified  by  the  event. 

We  may  study  granite  under  other  aspects.  The  tra- 
veller crosses  the  sands  of  Egypt  and  the  mud-banks  of 
the  Nile  to  look  at  the  great  Pyramids  and  the  Templea 


124  THE    STONES   OF   THE   BOOK. 

of  Thebes,  the  results  of  labor  carried  on  four  thousand 
years  ago,  and  may  there  see  how  far  in  a  dry  climate  the 
most  delicate  sculptures  on  the  surface  of  quarried  stones 
may  be  preserved  without  injury.  He  may  study  the 
same  result  in  the  British  Museum,  where  are  more  such 
specimens  to  be  seen  in  a  day  than  in  many  weeks'  travel 
in  Egypt;  but  he  must  then  lose  the  impression  made 
upon  the  mind  when  all  the  senses  as  well  as  the  eye 
combine  to  tell  the  same  tale. 

But  we  need  not  travel  so  far  to  learn  how  enduring  a 
material  granite  is  under  favorable  circumstances.  We 
cannot,  indeed,  afford  in  England  to  construct  the  exte- 
rior of  our  buildings  of  polished  granite;  but  it  is  not 
uncommon  as  an  ornamental  stone  for  internal  work. 
Under  such  conditions  it  may  seem,  indeed,  imperish- 
able; but  a  little  examination  will  show  that  it  is  even 
then  subject  to  a  certain  corrosion  from  the  air,  and  one 
can  well  understand  that  when  sun  and  rain  and  frost 
combine  they  effect  a  change  in  course  of  time. 

Still  the  preservation  of  this  stone  in  the  air  in  our 
climate  is  almost  perfect,  especially  when  the  surface  is 
not  broken  by  little  cracks,  into  which  the  rootlets  of 
plants  and  moisture  can  enter.  In  such  cases,  the  surface 
once  covered  with  lichens, — a  leathery  vegetation  which, 
like  a  stout  pair  of  boots,  is  a  great  preservative  from 
damp  and  injury, — there  is  little  change  perceptible  from 
century  to  century,  and  we  call  the  rock  imperishable. 

To  understand  how  far  this  apparently  imperishable 
condition  differs  from  the  real  state  of  the  case  on  an  ex- 
posed coast,  it  is  only  necessary  to  watch  carefully  for  a 
short  time  in  such  localities  as  those  indicated 'above. 


GRANITE,  GRANITIC    ROCKS,  AND    LAVA.  125 

Sark,  a  little  island  nearly  torn  to  shreds,  but  still  resist- 
ing the  final  stroke  of  fate,  is  full  of  illustrations  of  this 
kind.  Every  cliif,  every  cavern,  all  the  curious  natural 
holes,  and  the  natural  causeway  that  connects  the  two 
parts  of  the  island  together,  help  to  illustrate  this  de- 
struction of  granite. 

The  construction  of  granite  is  peculiar.  According  to 
the  definition  of  geologists,  it  is  a  mass  of  crystals  bedded 
in  a  crystalline  mass.  The  crystals  are  generally  of  two 
kinds,  the  mass  being  a  third  kind  of  mineral.  The  ob- 
long, flesh-colored  crystals  in  common  granite  are  called 
felspar.  The  little,  bright  flaky  crystals  are  mica,  and 
the  mass  in  which  they  occur,  often  white  or  gray,  is 
quartz.  Often  the  flaky  crystals  are  not  there,  but  in 
their  stead  are  dark-green  crystals,  so  abundant  as  to 
color  the  mass.  The  granite  is  then  called  Syenite. 
There  are  many  other  varieties,  and  the  minerals  are  very 
differently  arranged  in  different  places.  Geologists  give 
different  names  to  each  principal  variety,  but  it  is  not 
necessary  to  trouble  ourselves  with  these  names. 

The  veins  of  the  granite  mass  have  already  been 
alluded  to.  They  are  often  crevices  of  some  width,  more 
or  less  open,  and  full  of  beautiful  crystals,  partly  of  the 
minerals  of  which  the  granite  is  made  up,  partly  of 
foreign  minerals  valuable  as  yielding  metals.  Silver, 
copper,  lead,  and  a  multitude  of  other  less  common 
metals  are  found,  either  as  metals,  or  as  stones  yielding 
metals,  in  these  crevices.  They  are  then  called  mineral 
veins,  and  are  the  object  of  search  to  the  miner.  They 
are  by  no  means  confined  to  granite,  but  are  so  frequent 
10* 


126  THE    STONES    OF    THE    BOOK. 

in  that  rock  (though  not  always  valuable)  as  to  be  cha- 
racteristic. 

Granite  peeps  out  in  almost  every  part  of  the  earth, 
when  for  some  reason  the  great  underlying  mass,  often 
called  the  skeleton  of  the  earth,  is  made  to  show  itself  at 
the  surface.  Thus  it  forms  the  extremities  of  land  as  on 
the  west  coast  of  Europe  and  in  the  European  islands. 
In  the  Alps  and  other  great  and  lofty  mountain-chains  it 
forms  either  the  central  or  some  important  parallel  range. 
It  is  seen  where  the  oldest  and  last  of  the  limestones, 
sandstones,  and  clays  is  past,  and  where  their  changed 
conditions  have  also  been  passed  by.  It  is  thus  a  rock 
belonging  to  the  earth's  interior,  and  all  that  is  known 
about  it  tends  to  prove  that  it  has  been  formed  at  great 
depth,  under  great  pressure,  and  even  where  there  was 
very  great  heat.  Not  that  it  bears  marks  generally  of 
having  been  a  molten  rock  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the 
word.  It  is  not  like  lava,  which  we  shall  speak  of  pre- 
sently. It  has  none  of  the  slag-like  appearance  or  struc- 
ture of  substances  melted  near  the  air.  In  its  most  in- 
timate substance  among  the  very  crystals  of  which  it  is 
composed,  it  contains  water  clearly  discoverable  by  the 
aid  of  the  microscope,  and  recognized  even  sometimes  by 
the  naked  eye. 

Such  is  granite.  Porphyry  is  another  name  for  it. 
There  are  porphyries  of  various  kinds,  and  granite  is  one 
of  them.  They  are  all  crystals  in  a  crystalline  mass. 
All  are  hard;  some  are  among  the  hardest  substances 
known, — so  tough  that  they  can  scarcely  be  worked  into 
shape  with  any  tool.  In  the  great  exhibitions'of  won- 
derful works  of  art  and  manufacture  we  see  vases  and 


GRANITE,  GRANITIC    ROCKS,  AND   LAVA.          127 

ornaments  of  various  kinds,  chiefly  from  Russia,  con- 
structed of  such  material,  and  they  mark  the  employ- 
ment of  enormous  labor,  with  the  aid  of  all  that  modern 
ingenuity  can  supply  in  the  way  of  machinery.  Even 
under  these  circumstances  years  are  required  for  their 
completion.  In  other  museums  where  are  collected  the 
curious  implements  of  our  forefathers — of  those  human 
beings  who  dwelt  in  these  and  other  lands,  long  before 
the  historic  period,  before  the  Romans,  before  the  Kelts, 
before  all  those  peoples  who  have  had  definite  names 
assigned  to  them — we  may  find  from  time  to  time,  among 
the  axes  and  spear-heads  and  stones  of  curious  shape 
and  doubtful  use,  specimens  of  such  hard  porphyries,  or 
of  stones  equally  hard,  and  not  known  as  rocks  nearer 
than  Asia,  worked  and  smoothed  and  even  polished,  in 
spite  of  their  hardness  and  of  all  the  difficulties  involved. 
These,  it  is  true,  are  facts  that  only  belong  to  Geology  in 
a  limited  sense,  but  they  deserve  mention  when  speaking 
of  the  porphyries,  cf  which  granite  is  an  example. 

Occupying  a  very  different  position  in  the  earth, — 
often  resting  upon  limestones,  or  sandstones,  or  clays, — 
unevenly  and  irregularly  deposited,  and  manifestly  in- 
trusive in  every  sense,  there  is  another  class  of  rocks 
that  we  must  consider  in  this  chapter.  These  are  known 
as  lava  and  basalt, — lava,  if  found  to  have  been  erupted 
recently  in  a  melted  state;  basalt,  if  forming  part  of  the 
earth's  crust  in  places  where  there  has  been  no  volcanic 
disturbance  within  human  experience. 

Lava  is  a  very  characteristic  mineral.  It  is  a  kind  of 
glass,  produced  by  the  melting  of  all  the  common  minerals 
and  rocks  near  the  earth's  surface,  assisted  by  those  alka- 


128  THE    STONES   OP    THE   BOOK. 

line  earths  which  act  as  fluxes,  the  whole  having  been 
exposed  to  a  great  heat  at  a  moderate  depth  in  the  earth, 
and  brought  to  the  surface  by  one  of  those  volcanic  dis- 
turbances connected  with  earthquakes,  which  from  time 
to  time  produce  such  destruction  in  particular  localities. 
Etna,  Vesuvius,  and  Hecla,  in  Europe,  and  a  multitude 
of  similar  mountains  in  Asia,  South  America,  and  else- 
where, are  familiar  examples.  In  all  these,  after  the  earth- 
quake, and  the  eruption  of  gas  and  steam,  a  flood  of  lava 
generally  follows, -and  this  lower  part,  cooling  slowly 
under  some  pressure,  becomes  a  compact  stone,  while  the 
upper  part,  mixed  with  air,  and  cooling  rapidly,  is  spongy, 
and  converted  into  a  kind  of  slag.  The  magnitude  and 
extent  of  these  floods  of  melted  rock  will  be  alluded  to  in 
another  chapter. 

Basalt  is  the  lava  that  has  been  erupted  from  vol- 
canoes, probably  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea.  It  is  often 
spread  horizontally  in  sheets  over  large  tracks,  and  not 
unfrequently  there  are  many  successive  sheets  overlying 
each  other  in  the  same  district.  Many  varieties  of  this 
rock  occur :  they  are  generally  of  various  shades  of  gray 
and  green,  passing  into  black.  Some  are  full  of  crystals, 
others  compact  and  fine-grained.  The  most  usual  cha- 
racter, however,  is  that  they  are  grouped  in  columns  so 
regular,  and  on  so  large  a  scale,  as  to  present  all  kinds 
of  grotesque  appearances. 

Among  the  best  known  of  these  groups  of  basaltic 
columns  may  be  mentioned  the  Giants'  Causeway,  on  the 
coast  of  Antrim,  in  Ireland;  Fingal's  Cave,  in  the  Isle 
of  StafFa,  nearly  opposite;  some  very  fine  specimens  on 
the  Rhine,  near  Bonn,  and  others  a  little  higher  up  the 


GRANITE,    GRANITIC   ROCKS,   AND   LAVA.          129 

same  river;  and  Lsome  in  the  Eifel.  Few  things  are 
more  striking  in  their  way  than  these  basaltic  columns 
when  shown  in  a  cliff  or  cavern.  The  uniformity,  which 
seems  almost  complete  when  one  column  is  compared 
with  that  adjoining,  is  not  continued  over  a  large  area, 
but  amply  fills  the  space  which  the  eye  can  reach. 
Rising  straight  or  curved  from  the  ground,  there  is  an 
appearance  of  myriads  of  six-sided  columns  touching  each 
other,  and  only  made  manifest  by  weathering  or  quarry- 
ing. Generally  of  a  black  color,  the  effect  is  gloomy 
and  grand.  If  the  columns  run  out  towards  the  sea,  they 
are  of  course  broken  off  and  form  a  causeway,  or  are 
partly  eaten  out  and  leave  caverns.  If  in  a  quarry,  they 
are  like  the  pipes  of  a  gigantic  organ.  For  miles,  in  a 
cultivated  country,  their  existence  is  shown  by  milestones, 
gateposts,  and  all  other  vertical  stone  supports,  con- 
structed of '  these  convenient  and  natural  columns.  Often 
they  are  carried  to  great  distances  for  these  purposes, 
and  for  road-material,  as  they  do  not  readily  injure  by 
exposure,  and  are  among  the  toughest  substances  known. 
All  varieties  of  lava  and  basalt  are  not  indeed  alike  in 
this  respect,  but  most  of  the  rocks  of  the  kind  described 
in  this  chapter  are  both  hard  and  tough. 

Returning  to  the  granites,  we  must  now  notice  a  rock 
extremely  abundant  in  Scotland  and  elsewhere,  often  seen 
on  the  flanks  of  granite  mountains,  and  presenting  almost 
the  same  mineral  group  as  granite  itself,  but  splitting 
readily  into  slabs, — more  or  less  thin  and  regular  in  differ- 
ent places.  This  mechanical  arrangement  is  not  met  with 
in  the  granite,  and  the  rock  that  exhibits  them  is  called 
gneiss.  It  is  one  of  a  class  of  rocks,  some  of  which  are 


130  THE    STONES    OP   THE    BOOK. 

schists.  The  young  geologist  may  easily  be  puzzled  in 
endeavoring  to  draw  a  line  of  demarcation  between  the 
granites  and  these  other  rocks,  as  such  line  does  not 
always  exist,  and,  when  it  does,  is  not  well  defined. 
Gneiss  and  granite  may  be  looked  on  as  quite  sufficiently 
similar  to  be  classed  together  as  minerals,  though  distinct 
in  their  mechanical  arrangement. 

Rotten  granite  is  a  condition  of  the  rock  so  different 
from  that  with  which  most  people  are  familiar,  that  it 
may  seem  almost  an  absurdity.  Nevertheless,  there  are 
very  extensive  tracts  where  the  granite  falls  so  easily  to 
powder,  on  exposure  to  the  air,  as  to  affect  the  scenery. 
There  is  a  curious  example  of  this  in  Bavaria,  near  the 
mountains  that  separate  Bavaria  from  Bohemia.  It  is  a 
considerable  hill,  where  the  granite  is  eaten  away  at  the 
surface  j  and  the  following  description  of  it  is  accurate  and 
picturesque.  The  hill  is  called  the  Louisenberg  : — 

"  The  road  to  the  Louisenberg  lies  along  the  slopes  of 
a  hill,  Copiously  strewn  with  loose  masses  of  granite, 
increasing  in  size  and  quantity  as  you  advance,  until  at 
length  the  hill  seems  to  consist  of  nothing  else  but  dis- 
jointed fragments,  piled  in  heaps  one  over  another.  Such 
a  vast  pyramid  of  loose  rock  might  have  furnished  the 
Titans  with  ammunition  when  storming  Jupiter  in 
Olympus.  If  you  begin  at  the  bottom  of  the  hill,  and 
climb  to  the  top,  or  compass  it  round,  you  will  find  no- 
thing but  rocks  in  pieces,  tumbled  about  in  all  directions; 
and  the  result  is  a  kind  of  labyrinth,  in  which  one  may 
wander  about  for  hours,  sometimes  creeping,  for  many 
hours  together,  through  caves,  dark  or  barely  admitting 
a  few  gleams  of  light  between  the  interstices  of  the  huge 


GRANITE,  GRANITIC   ROCKS,  AND   LAVA.  131 

superincumbent  masses  which  form"  their  roof,  at  others 
threading  narrow  clefts,  or  scrambling  over  projecting 
masses  to  the  summit  of  the  hill,  which  is  itself  a  de- 
tached block/' — Murray's  Handbook  for  Southern  Ger- 
many, 3d  ed.  p.  88. 

Many  other  remarkable  points  of  scenery  are  produced 
in  the  same  way,  but  chiefly  in  sea-elifFs  and  by  the  coast 
on  bleak  moors.  It  is  not  often  that  the  decomposed 
rock  is  so  favorable  to  vegetable  growth  as  in  the  case 
above  described.  The  number  of  trees  growing  on  the 
hill  give,  indeed,  the  appearance  of  a  wood,  and  "  the 
peculiar  luxuriance  of  the  dark-green  moss,  covering  the 
rocky  walls  with  a  continuous  tapestry,"  imparts  an  air 
of  soft  beauty  almost  peculiar  to  the  Louisenberg.  The 
whole  neighborhood  consists  of  sand  and  gravel,  d 
from  decomposed  granite. 


§p*Mg| 


THE  GREAT  STONE  BOOK 
PART  III. 


12 


IN    THE    BRICK-FIELD    AND    THE    GRAVEL-PIT. 

WE  have  now  seen  the  way  in  which  a  river  removes 
and  deposits  stones  and  mud,  the  effect  of  the  tide  and 
the  storm-waves  of  the  sea  in  destroying  a  cliff  and  pro- 
ducing a  shoal,  and  the  mode  in  which  a  glacier  removes 
and  an  iceberg  distributes  the  accumulated  fragments  of 
the  mountain-side  on  which  it  is  formed.  We  have  also 
seen  what  are  the  clays  and  limestones  and  sandstones 
with  which  the  water  and  the  ice  have  generally  to  deal; 
how  these  are,  for  the  most  part,  water-formed  and  water- 
worn,  though  since  hardened,  and  often  much  changed. 
But  there  is  a  connecting  link  between  these  relics  of  a 
time  long  past  and  the  mud  and  sand  left  by  the  river  in 
its  recent  course,  or  now  moved  by  the  sea ;  and  this 
link  we  must  next  endeavor  to  make  out.  It  is  a  very 
interesting  and  important  one.  It  is  the  most  direct, 
and  perhaps  the  most  instructive,  of  all  the  early  lessons 
in  Geology.  It  introduces  the  subject  of  Geology,  and 
all  its  peculiarities  and  characteristics,  as  distinguished 
from  what  is  called  Physical  Geography,  a  science  which 
relates  only  to  the  present. 

There  are  many  ways  of  making  this  step  in  our 
science,  and  each  place  will,  generally  speaking,  have 

135 


136      PLACEMENT  AND  DISPLACEMENT  OF  STONES. 

in  its  neighborhood  some  particular  locality  better  for 
it  than  another.  In  many  parts  of  the  country,  the  only 
means  at  hand  will  be  the  examination  of  the  spots  where, 
by  some  road-cutting  or  the  passage  of  a  small  stream, 
the  common  vegetable  soil  has  been  removed  and  its 
gradual  change  laid  bare.  This  change  is  generally  as 
follows : — first  into  a  coarser  soil,  then  into  a  mass  not 
worth  calling  soil,  and  then,  at  last,  into  some  uniform 
mineral  mass  that  we  may  call  a  rock.  Whatever  this 
rock  may  be,  it  is  sure  to  serve  our  purpose,  and  mark 
the  difference  between  the  soil  in  which  plants  are  nou- 
rished and  the  great  body  of  the  earth. 

In  many  parts  of  England,  however, — and,  indeed,  in 
most  parts  of  Northern  Europe, — there  is,  near  the  sur- 
face, a  considerable  heap  of  rounded  stones  and  sand, 
that  we  call  gravel,  and  often  a  good  deal  of  stiff7  clay, 
working  into  a  paste  with  water,  and  very  tena- 
cious. Of  such  clay  bricks  are  often  made,  and  thus  it 
is  known  as  brick-clay.  The  mixture  of  rounded  stones 
and  sand,  called  gravel,  is  often  very  thick.  It  is  found 
both  in  hollows  and  on  hill-tops.  It  is  made  up  of  stones 
of  all  kinds,  many  of  them  quite  unlike  those  of  the  rocks 
at  hand.  These  are  mixed  irregularly,  and  the  whole 
mass  seems  as  if  placed  on  the  surface  without  any  order, 
the  clays  in  one  place  and  the  stones  in  another.  Occa- 
sionally there  are  thin  beds  of  white  sand,  but  these  are 
rare.  Sometimes  there  are  bones  of  animals  mixed  with 
the  stones.  These  are  not  always  broken,  and  were  ap- 
parently brought  or  left  with  the  heap  of  stones  in  which 
they  are  found.  It  is  evident  that  some  reason  must 
exist  for  the  occurrence  of  all  these  heaps  where  we  find 


IN   THE   BRICK-FIELD   AND   THE   GRAVEL-PIT.      137 

them ;  and  people's  ideas  were  first,  and  for  a  long  while, 
directed  to  the  probability  of  their  being  proofs  of  a 
great  deluge  that  once  swept  the  human  race  from  the 
earth.  A  closer  examination  proves  that  this  is  not  the 
case  ]  but  these  heaps  remain,  and  to  them  we  now  re- 
quest the  young  geologist's  attention. 


SECTION     SHOWING   THE    HEAD     OP     EARTH,   THE     SAND,    AND    THE    CLAYS    IN  A 
BRICK-PIT. 

a.  The  head  of  soil.  b.  Sands  above  the  clay.  c.  The  clay. 

d.  The  rock  below  the  clay  (not  conformable). 

To  understand  more  clearly  the  facts  of  the  case,  let 
the  reader,  if  possible,  repair  to  a  brick-field  or  gravel-pit, 
and  examine  the  cutting  made  to  get  at  the  clay  or 
gravel.  Near  the  top,  but  below  the  vegetable  soil,  there 
is  probably  a  quantity  of  earth  which  the  workmen  call 
a  head,  consisting  of  rubbish;  and  through  this,  though 
not  real  soil,  many  of  the  roots  of  trees  and  plants  have 
penetrated.  The  rubbish  is  not  everywhere  of  the  same 
kind  or  of  equal  thickness:  some  parts  of  it  probably 
contain  good  soil  mixed  with  it,  while  other  parts,  close 
by,  only  show  a  thin  coating  of  a  few  inches.  Below  the 
good  soil  will,  perhaps,  be  found  poor,  hungry,  worthless 
clays,  broken  stones,  and  sands,  until  at  last  one  particu- 
lar bed  of  clay  is  reached  that  is  fit  for  making  into 
bricks. 

12* 


138      PLACEMENT    AND    DISPLACEMENT   OF   STONES. 

Just  so  with  the  gravel-pit.  The  gravel  is  in  streaks 
or  beds  below  the  vegetable  soil;  and  of  these  beds  one 
lies  above  another,  not  very  regularly,  but  still  with  some 
approach  to  order.  Particular  beds  show  all  the  stones 
well  rounded,  and  nearly  of  the  same  size;  while  other 
beds  or  parcels  of  the  gravel  are  more  sandy,  or  made  up 
of  stones  less  completely  sorted.  In  all  cases,  wherever 
you  look  at  any  cuttings  such  as  are  seen  in  gravel-pits, 
you  will  find  that  there  is  a  good  deal  of  order  in  the 
way  the  different  materials  are  arranged,  although  they 
are  by  no  means  built  up  with  perfect  uniformity. 

Now,  how  do  you  suppose  the  clays,  and  sands,  and 
pebbles  were  placed  where  you  find  them  ?  A  little  care- 
ful search  will  generally  discover,  buried  in  the  earth  at 
the  top,  some  snail-shells,  and  bones  of  horses,  cows, 
dogs,  rats,  or  sheep,  hidden  among  the  roots  and  buried 
vegetation.  You  will  probably  find  none  of  these,  nor 
any  thing  like  them,  below,  but,  in  their  place,  some  of 
the  common  fresh-water  shells,  such  as  belong  to  the 
inhabitants  of  adjacent  rivers  or  ponds,  mixed  with  the 
clay  and  sand ;  or  perhaps  there  may  be  a  few  bones  of 
animals  not  common  in  the  neighborhood,  or  some  shells 
which  have  certainly  come  from  the  sea.  These  latter 
are  often  heaped  in  considerable  numbers,  and  must  have 
come  in  originally  as  part  of  the  gravel  or  clay  deposit.^ 

With  these  marine  shells,  which  are  familiar  enough 
on  the  nearest  sea-shore,  but  seem  strangely  placed  in  the 
brick-pit,  and  still  more  strangely  mixed  up  with  fine 
sand  and  mud  between  two  beds  of  gravel  or  flint-pebbles, 
there  is  generally  no  mixture  of  bones  of  land-animals, 
and  no  plants,  although  these  are  common  enough  else- 


IN  THE  BRICK-FIELD  AND  THE  GRAVEL-PIT.       139 

where,  and  equally  well  preserved;  neither  are  there 
pond-shells.  When,  in  comparatively  rare  instances, 
bones  are  found,  they  are  worn  and  rolled,  as  if  by  water, 
but  they  are  not  the  bones  of  domesticated  animals. 

Knowing,  as  we  do,  what  water  can  effect  in  the  way 
of  collecting,  removing,  and  arranging  such  things,  we 
cannot  help  feeling  that  all  the  clay,  and  mud,  and  sand, 
and  pebbles  must  have  been  placed  where  they  are  by 
water.  True,  there  is  no  water  now  near  them, — true, 
the  sea  is  not  only  far  off,  but  at  a  lower  level;  all  this 
may  make  it  very  difficult  to  understand  how  the  matter 
was  arranged,  but  it  need  not  alter  the  conclusion  that  as 
water  now  does  precisely  similar  things  in  a  way  we  see  and 
know,  so  water  must  have  done  this  thing.  We  can  only 
believe  that  the  accumulation,  whatever  it  was  and  when- 
ever it  took  place,  occurred  under  water  which  has  since 
departed  from  the  surface. 

All  beds  of  gravel  and  sand  mixed  with  mud,  whether 
containing  shells  and  bones  or  not,  must,  doubtless,  have 
been  brought  together  under  water;  and  most  parts  of 
our  island  are  covered  with  such  beds  here  and  there. 
All  or  nearly  all  the  plains  of  Europe  are  of  the  same 
kind,  and  were  certainly  under  water  when  their  present 
coating  of  gravel,  clay,  &c.  was  brought  together. 
"What!"  it  may  be  exclaimed;  "has  all  England,  and 
almost  all  Europe,  been  under  water  so  recently?" 
There  cannot  be  a  doubt  that  such  is  the  case. 

In  the  sacred  history,  with  which  all  are  acquainted, 
there  is  an  account  of  a  great  deluge  which  covered  the 
land  with  water,  destroying  almost  all  the  living  inha- 
bitants. 


140      PLACEMENT  AND  DISPLACEMENT  OF  STONES. 

The  precise  meaning  of  the  sacred  history  in  respect 
to  that  deluge,  or  its  exact  date,  are  subjects  that  we  need 
not  here  discuss;  but  one  thing  in  regard  to  it  is  certain, 
— namely,  that  a  large  part,  perhaps  the  whole,  of  the 
earth's  surface  has  been  under  water  since  man  was 
among  its  inhabitants;  and  it  is  possible  that  many 
similar  and  partial  deluges  have  taken  place  at  different 
times  during  the  earth's  history. 

A  deluge,  however,  does  by  no  means  assume  that 
water  was  miraculously  added  to  the  quantity  previously 
existing  and  forming  part  of  the  earth's  surface.  It 
means,  no  doubt,  that  the  relative  levels  of  land  and 
water  were  changed,  and  that  what  had  once  been  land 
became  buried  under  water.  It  may  also  mean  that,  in 
places  long  covered  by  the  sea,  the  sea-bottom  was  lifted 
up  and  became  dry  land.  All  land,  probably,  has  been 
in  turn  the  bottom  of  a  sea,  and  while  under  water  it  bo- 
came  covered  with  mud  and  marine  animals.  The  bottom 
or  bed  of  the  sea  has  often  been  converted  into  land,  and 
the  land  has  become  buried  and  lost  sight  of.  The  new 
lands  were  of  different  shape  and  had  a  very  different 
climate  from  the  old  which  had  previously  existed  in  the 
same  neighborhood. 

But  neither  is  it  necessary  to  suppose  that  every 
deluge,  or  great  rush  of  water,  was  accompanied  by  a 
violent  breaking  up  of  the  land.  This  may  sometimes 
have  been  the  case;  and  earthquakes  have  often  produced 
wonderful  and  very  mischievous  commotions,  in  different 
parts  of  the  world,  tending  to  this  result.  But  the 
change  of  level  may  sometimes  have  been  very  gradual, 
and  need  not  have  been  attended  by  a  breaking  up  of  the 


IN  THE  BRICK-FIELD  AND  THE  GRAVEL-PIT.       141 

surface.  There  may,  in  other  words,  be  destructive  and 
change-producing  causes  that  take  even  thousands  of 
years  to  complete;  and  during  such  slow  and  unnoticed 
revolutions  the  clays  of  our  brick-field  and  the  stones  of 
our  gravel-pit  may  have  been  placed  in  their  present 
position. 

When  rapid  changes  such  as  those  of  earthquakes  happen 
on  the  earth,  the  effect,  although  it  excites  more  atten- 
tion, is  not  so  great  as  that  brought  about  by  the  slow 
alterations  which  many  hundred  years  are  needed*  to  com- 
plete. It  has  taken  a  long  time  for  frosts  and  ice  to 
bring  together  such  a  heap  as  is  to  be  found  in  any  of 
the  principal  gravel-beds  near  London, — a  time  far  longer 
than  could  be  supposed;  longer,  indeed,  than  can  be  cal- 
culated; longer,  even,  than  we  have  been  accustomed  to 
think  the  world  has  existed.  What,  then,  must  have 
been  the  time  required  to  build  up  the  world,  if  there 
are  many  of  these  gravel-beds  heaped  one  upon  another, 
all  of  different  ages,  the  lowest  being  the  oldest  ?  This 
is  one  of  the  difficult  questions  of  Geology,  and  one  that 
can  never  be  exactly  answered.  All  we  can  do  is  to  ex- 
amine and  compare  facts,  and  judge  by  comparison  when 
we  have  fully  considered  the  facts. 

But  let  us  look  more  closely  at  the  beds  of  gravel, 
separated  from  each  other  sometimes  by  sand,  sometimes 
by  gravel  of  a  different  kind.  In  a  thickness  of  twenty 
or  thirty  feet  there  will  generally  be  a  good  many  varie- 
ties, and  we  shall  see  any  particular  bed  that  is  worked 
vary  here  and  there.  Pick  out  a  few  of  the  pebbles,  and 
look  at  them. 

Here  is  a  well-rounded  black  pebble,  about  the  size  of 


142      PLACEMENT  AND  DISPLACEMENT  OF  STONES. 

an  egg,  very  smooth  and  almost  polished,  but  the  surface 
is  scratched  all  over  with  fine  marks,  showing  clearly  how 
the  stone  became  round  and  smooth.  Next  to  it  is  a 
broken  fragment,  the  edges  rounded  and  worn  and  a 
clean  broken  face  presented.  Both  are  flints,  and  both 
exactly  resemble  other  flints,  whether  in  the  gravel,  on 
the  sea-beach,  or  in  the  chalk-cliff.  It  takes  a  long  while 
to  roll  so  hard  a  stone  as  a  flint  into  the  shape  of  an  egg 
and  carry  it  with  others  into  a  great  heap  far  away  from 
the  sea.  It  takes  considerable  force  to  break  a  flint 
pebble  in  half. 

We  have  next  to  see  what  a  flint  is,  and  where  it  comes 
from,  in  order  to  know  what  is  the  relation  of  this  gravel- 
pit  with  the  various  rocks  in  its  neighborhood.  Let  us 
break  it  in  half  with  a  hammer  and  try  if  any  thing  is  to 
be  learnt  by  looking  at  the  inside.  It  is  not  unlikely 
that  when  broken  there  will  be  a  small  empty  space  in 
the  middle,  partly  occupied  with  little  crystals.  Perhaps 
there  is  no  empty  space,  but  a  distinct  shape  resembling 
gome  more  or  less  known  part  of  an  animal,  as  if  the 
flint  had  once  been  pasty  and  had  entangled  a  sponge,  a 
shell,  or  sea-anemone,  just  as  in  jellies  the  cook  will  en- 
close fresh  strawberries  or  cherries,  or  as  flies  are  caught 
in  resin.  At  any  rate,  we  are  almost  sure  to  find,  if  we 
look  closely  enough,  using  that  wonderful  contrivance 
the  microscope,  that  little  white  or  gray  spots  in  the 
clear  flint  once  belonged  either  to  sponges,  or  to  shells, 
or  to  some  other  creature  formerly  inhabiting  the  sea. 

The  flints  generally  found  in  gravel  are  very  different 
from  most  other  stones  we  meet  with.  The  former  all 
seem  similar,  and,  though  mixed  with  other  very  different 


IN  THE  BRICK-FIELD  AND  THE  GRAVEL-PIT.       143 

stones,  they,  no  doubt,  have  all  come  from  the  chalk. 
The  only  places  where  such  material  is  at  all  abundant 
are  the  various  chalk-hills,  many  of  them  at  consider- 
able distance.  Beds  of  flint,  unbroken  and  undisturbed, 
often  alternate  with  the  beds  of  chalk,  and  it  is  supposed 
that  the  pebbles  once  formed  part  of  other  chalk-hills 
now  washed  away. 

Must  we,  then,  believe  that  all  our  gravel  and  brick- 
clay  consists  of  the  remains  of  older  deposits  broken  up? 
Such  is,  indeed,  the  geological  conclusion;  and  thus  it  is 
that  these  pebbles,  so  useful  and  so  common,  carry  us 
back  to  rocks  of  much  older  date  than  themselves  and 
serve  as  connecting  links  not  only  between  the  sea-beach 
and  the  heaps  of  boulders  far  removed  from  the  sea,  but 
also  between  the  gravel-bed  and  the  chalk-cliff. 

There  was  a  time  when  our  gravel-beds  did  not  exist 
as  gravel,  but  when  the  raw  material,  the  unrounded 
stones,  were  buried  in  the  chalk-hills,  which  were  then 
entirely  under  water.  As  gravel  covers  not  only  a  large 
proportion  of  England,  but  also  much  of  Northern 
Europe,  there  must  have  been  a  larger  quantity  of  chalk 
then  than  there  is  now,  and  probably  it  extended  much 
more  widely  and  to  places  where  we  can  at  present  find  no 
appearance  of  it.  By  the  washing  of  the  sea  the  chalk 
was  worn  away  in  many  places  and  the  flints  separated 
from  the  fine  chalk  mud.  Being  hard  stones,  they  were 
then  rolled  about  till  most  of  them  were  rounded,  and 
they  were  collected  in  heaps,  those  of  the  same  size  keep- 
ing together,  and  the  mud  and  sand  forming  bands  be- 
tween them. 

Looking  at  the  flints  in  gravel  merely  as  stones,  they 


144      PLACEMENT  AND  DISPLACEMENT  OF  STONES. 

thus  mark  a  great  change  and  the  lapse  of  a  long  time ; 
but  when  we  find  shells  sticking  in  them,  or  sponge-like 
bodies  buried  in  them,  like  flies  in  amber,  they  offer  other 
subjects  for  thought.  Of  all  things,  flint  is  one  of  the 
most  solid  and  hardest.  If  people  build  walls  with  it,  or 
expose  it  in  other  ways  to  weather,  it  never  seems  to 
alter  or  decay.  It  is  true  that,  if  put  in  a  hot  fire,  it 
gets  very  brittle,  but  still  it  never  melts;  and  no  process 
of  nature  that  we  know  of  could  soften  it  into  a  paste,  so 
that  one  could  stick  a  shell  upon  it,  or  make  it  to  enclose 
the  delicate  little  sponges  so  often  seen  within  it. 

But  though  neither  fire  nor  water  will  soften  flint  un- 
assisted, there  are  means  not  only  of  making  it  soft,  but 
even  of  dissolving  it  in  water.  When  put  in  open  iron 
cages,  and  held  for  some  time  in  a  steam-boiler,  with 
caustic  potash  or  soda,  such  as  is  obtained  plentifully 
from  chemical  works,  it  becomes  at  last  completely 
sucked  up  by  the  water,  like  a  lump  of  sugar,  and  the 
water  itself  looks  like  a  thick  syrup,  in  which  you  might 
easily  put  the  most  delicate  little  coral  without  injury. 
Exposed  to  the  air,  this  syrup  thickens  and  at  last 
hardens,  but  it  does  not  turn  into  flint  again  quite  so 
easily.  It  long  remains  white,  and  is  greatly  affected  by 
damp  air.  Still,  we  see  how  a  soft  condition  of  flint  may 
be  produced;  and  some  day  we  may  discover  the  way  in 
which,  the  potash  and  soda  being  quite  got  rid  of,  a  flint 
can  really  be  re-made. 

But  there  are  no  steam-boilers  and  stores  of  caustic 
potash  and  soda  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  where  chalk 
was  made.  This  is  merely  a  way  in  which  shells  and 
sea-weed  might  now  be  buried,  as  it  shows  that  the 


IN    THE   BRICK-FIELD   AND   THE   GRAVEL-PIT.     145 

change  of  hardness  is  not  quite  impossible.  Nature's 
way  was  rather  different,  and  perhaps  much  slower,  but 
not  less  complete  in  the  end. 

We  return  now  to  the  completely-formed  gravel. 
Mixed  with  the  pebbles,  and  above  or  below  them,  are 
found  sometimes  bones,  and  occasionally,  though  not  often, 
pieces  of  flint,  looking  as  if  they  had  been  split  and  chipped 
into  their  shape  by  savages.  No  bones  of  men  have  been 
found,  but  there  are  remains  of  such  animals  as  horses, 
horned  cattle,  wolves,  foxes,  and  bears,  mixed  up  with  the 
leg-bones,  backbones,  and  teeth  of  the  elephant,  the  rhi- 
noceros, and  the  hippopotamus. 

A  strange  and  unexpected  discovery  was  this  mixture  of 
flint  weapons,  sculptured  by  man,  with  the  bones  of  do- 
mestic animals  and  the  bones  of  such  animals  as  the  ele- 
phant and  hippopotamus.  One's  first  idea  is,  that  either 
the  one  or  the  other  set  has  been  introduced  accidentally 
at  a  different  period,  or  that  all  have  been  removed  toge- 
ther by  some  recent  torrent,  the  older  being  mixed  with 
the  newer.  We  feel  inclined  to  look  upon  the  deluge 
of  Noah  as  a  probable  cause  of  such  a  mixture,  and  to 
speculate  on  the  races  of  men  that  lived  before  the 
Flood  as  having  indeed  covered  the  whole  earth,  and 
been  all  inhabitants  of  a  world  whose  climates  were  little 
varied,  and  in  which  the  elephant  and  the  lion  of  the 
tropics,  the  horse,  ox,  deer,  dog,  and  beaver  of  the  tem- 
perate regions,  and  the  great  polar  bear  and  seals  of 
the  icy  seas,  could  live  together  in  the  climate  of  Eng- 
land. 

But  a  little  further  knowledge  and  examination  into 
what  Geology  teaches  will  show  that  this  way  of  ex- 

13 


146      PLACEMENT  AND  DISPLACEMENT  OP  STONES. 

plaining  appearances  is  not  the  right  one.  The  ele- 
phants, and  other  large  animals  of  that  family  (the 
rhinoceros  and  hippopotamus),  were  not  exactly  like 
those  living  now  in  India  and  Africa.  The  elephant 
was  covered  with  thick  and  long  hair,  the  rhinoceros 
and  hippopotamus  were  differently  proportioned  from 
those  we  are  now  familiar  with.  Their  bones,  also,  are 
in  far  too  perfect  a  state  to  allow  us  to  suppose  that  they 
have  been  rolled  about  on  the  sea-shore ;  and  the  harder 
bones  and  teeth  are  too  abundant  to  allow  us  to  imagine 
for  a  moment  that  they  have  been  drifted  a  long  dis- 
tance, from  places  where  the  climate  more  resembles 
that  of  their  present  habitations. 

Some  sixty  years  ago,  a  complete  elephant  was  found 
buried  in  frozen  .gravel  in  Siberia,  and  similar  frozen 
cliffs  elsewhere  have  been  found  to  contain  complete 
carcases  of  other  large  animals.  The  flesh  on  these 
carcases  was  preserved  as  we  preserve  meat  in  ice-chests, 
but  still  more  perfectly  and  for  a  longer  time.  When 
thawed,  so  that  foxes  and  dogs  could  get  at  it,  these 
animals  soon  showed  that  they  had  not  before  had  such 
a  chance,  by  devouring  the  flesh  as  rapidly  as  possible. 
These  large  quadrupeds  must  have  lived  in  the  neighbor- 
hood, and  had  been  unexpectedly  caught  up  in  the  water, 
— perhaps  carried  to  a  distance  after  being  drowned, — 
till  they  entered  within  the  region  of  perpetual  frost, 
where  they  were  built  up  as  part  of  a  frozen  mass  of  water, 
mud,  sand,  stones,  and  carcases,  to  remain  unchanged 
for  centuries,  owing  to  the  preservative  power  of  ice. 

Frozen  water  has,  no  doubt,  had  much  to  do  with  the 
distribution  of  gravel,  as  well  as  with  the  burying  and 


IN    THE   BRICK-FIELD   AND   THE   GRAVEL-PIT.      147 

preserving  these  curious  remains  of  a  former  world.  In 
the  upper  valleys  of  the  Alps,  and  in  other  mountain  - 
districts,  under  favorable  circumstances,  where  water  that 
would  otherwise  have  fallen  on  the  plains  in  rain  is 
deposited  as  snow,  and  the  snow,  instead  of  melting, 
hardens  into  ice,  and  then,  by  its  weight,  slides  gently 
down  into  the  lower  valleys,  are  formed  the  glaciers, 
already  described  in  a  former  chapter.  These  rivers  of 
ice  continue  to  descend,  until  they  become  converted 
into  rivers  of  water  in  temperate  climates ;  but  far  away 
on  the  vast  and  little-visited  shores  of  the  polar  seas, 
every  nook  and  mountain-gorge  is  loaded  with  such 
masses,  which  fill  the  valleys  and  project  far  into  the 
sea,  and,  when  large  enough,  break  away  and  float  off  in 
the  form  of  ice-islands.  Owing  to  currents  in  the  ocean 
moving  ^always  from  the  poles  towards  the  equator,  the 
ice  is  drifted  in  very  large  quantities,  coming  down 
towards  the  south  from  the  north  pole  and  towards  the 
north  from  the  south  pole,  until  the  whole  of  the  ice 
is  melted.  But  so  long  as  the  ice  is  attached  to  the 
glacier  and  the  land,  it  is  constantly  receiving  fresh 
supplies  of  broken  rock,  split  off  at  every  change  of 
weather  from  the  mountain-side,  so  that  each  floating 
island,  or  iceberg,  becomes  loaded  with  thousands  of  tons 
of  mud  and  stones,  which  of  course  reach  the  bottom  of 
the  sea  when  the  ice  melts.  Thus  there  must  be  a  con- 
stant accumulation  on  the  bottom  of  the  ocean  of  such 
stones  brought  from  a  great  distance;  and,  as  they  are 
rolled  over  and  over  one  another  on  shores  and  shallow 
places,  they  become  at  last  converted  into  fine  mud  and 
rounded  pebbles. 


148      PLACEMENT  AND  DISPLACEMENT  OF  STONES. 

But  there  are  some  other  things  to  be  considered,  for 
it  must  not  be  concluded  that  all  the  ice  continues  float- 
ing till  it  is  melted.  Owing  to  the  fact — a  very  curious 
and  important  one — that  ice  is  rather  lighter  than  water, 
the  ice  floats  at  or  near  the  surface,  with  only  a  small 
part  visible  in  proportion  to  the  whole  mass.  This  pro- 
portion is  smaller  as  the  weight  of  the  load,  the  freight 
of  stones  and  mud  it  conveys,  is  greater.  If  the  ice  is 
eighty  or  ninety  feet  high  above  the  water — and  this  is 
no  uncommon  height — it  may  be  very  safely  assumed 
that  it  is  six  or  eight  hundred  feet  or  more  in  depth, 
and  correspondingly  larger ;  and  if  it  passes  over  a  sea 
not  so  deep  as  this,  the  whole  mass  will  be  stranded  and 
prevented  from  further  advance.  When  this  happens, 
the  momentum  or  impetus  possessed  by  so  large  a  mass 
of  matter  in  motion  cannot  be  suddenly  stopped  ;  and 
the  ice-island,  like  a  ship  when  it  takes  the  ground,  will 
be  partly  lifted  over  the  mud  or  stone-bank  on  which  it 
has  struck,  and  in  this  operation  will  grind  and  be 
ground  with  extreme  energy,  and  remain  firmly  buried 
in  its  place  till  it  becomes  sufficiently  lightened  of  its  load 
by  melting  above  to  float  oif  again.  Wonderful  effects 
of  this  great,  force  of  grinding  are  sometimes  seen  on 
rocks  that  have  been  exposed  to  it. 

Besides  the  ice  and  the  load  of  stones  it  conveys, 
there  are  other  important  means  in  nature  by  which 
broken  rocks  are  turned  into  pebbles  more  or  less 
rounded,  and  into  mud  more  or  less  fine.  Every  coast 
is  inevitably  exposed  to  the  action  of  running  water, 
and  materials  are  removed  with  a  rapidity  proportioned 
to  the  softness  of  the  rock  and  the  violence  of  the  waves. 


IN    THE    BRICK-FIELD    AND    THE    GRAVEL-PIT.       149 

Cliffs  are  thus  torn  away  and  destroyed,  and  every  bed  of 
shingle  and  sand  is  rolled  over  and  over  by  the  cease- 
less rise  and  fall  of  the  tide,  and  disturbed  by  the  occa- 
sional dash  of  the  tempest,  till  it  is  in  time  ground  into 
mud.  There  is,  however,  constantly  afresh  supply  of  raw 
material,  consisting  of  fragments  of  worn  and  fallen  rock  • 
and  after  the  first  angles  of  the  broken  stones  have  been 
knocked  away,  pebbles  are  soon  formed.  The  formation 
of  beds  of  gravel  and  clay  is  probably  going  on  con- 
stantly in  many  seas,  and  ample  provision  is  being  made 
for  future  lands  in  this  respect. 

But  if  pebble-beds  and  thick  clay  were  heaped  toge- 
ther under  water,  as  all  the  facts  concerning  them  seem 
to  show,  it  cannot  be  wondered  at  that  they  contain 
now  and  then  the  shells  and  bones  of  the  inhabitants  of 
the  water  and  adjacent  land,  nor,  on  the  other  hand, 
need  we  be  surprised  if  in  most  cases  these  delicate 
organizations  are  bruised  and  injured,  and  a  large  pro- 
portion of  them  totally  destroyed,  by  the  rude  conflict 
of  the  waves,  and  the  rubbing  and  grinding  they  have 
undergone.  Where  simply  drifted  without  being  much 
rolled,  the  fossils  may  remain;  but  where  drifted  and 
long  exposed,  we  may  be  sure  there  will  be  little  indica- 
tion of  life. 

When  we  consider  the  wide  extent  of  country  that  is 
covered  with  thick  beds  of  brick-clay,  and  the  innume- 
rable patches  of  gravel,  some  of  them  not  small,  dis- 
tributed over  the  surface  even  of  our  own  country,  we 
shall  see  how  wide-spread  must  have  been  the  causes  at 
work.  And  when  we  look,  too,  at  the  thickness  of  fine 
soil  often  lying  undisturbed  over  the  clay  and  gravel, 

13* 


150      PLACEMENT  AND  DISPLACEMENT  OF  STONES. 

and  the  long  time  that  things  must  have  remained  nearly 
as  they  now  are  to  account  for  this  accumulation  of  soil 
and  growth  of  vegetation,  it  will  be  evident  that  the 
changes  by  which  our  island  was  brought  into  its  pre- 
sent position  and  height  above  the  water  were  no  affairs 
of  yesterday,  but  must  date  back  far,  very  far  beyond 
our  records.  In  the  beds  of  gravel  below  the  vegetable 
soil,  and  among  the  remains  of  large  elephants  and  rhi- 
noceroses, are  buried  those  curious  flint  weapons  that 
have  been  already  alluded  to,  now  generally  admitted  to 
be  of  human  manufacture.  "When  and  how  could  these 
our  ancestors  have  existed,  and  what  must  have  been  the 
state  of  our  island  when  they  were  its  only  inhabitants  ? 
These,  again,  are  among  the  queries  to  which  we  cannot 
expect  to  receive  satisfactory  replies,  and  it  is  better  not 
to  puzzle  or  confuse  ourselves  at  present  by  discussing 
them. 


IN  THE  QUARRY  AND  THE  MINE. 

EXCEPT  to  those — who,  however,  are  numbered  by 
millions — buried  for  the  greater  part  of  their  lives  in 
the  streets  of  large  towns,  there  are  few  who  have  not 
access  to  some  kind  of  quarry.  Even  the  townsman, 
however,  can  generally  find  within  moderate  distance  a 
good  bare  face  of  railway-cutting,  if  he  cannot  reach  a 
spot  where  stone  is  being  removed  for  building  purposes 
or  road-making.  To  the  young  geologist  every  quarry, 
of  whatever  material,  is  full  of  instruction  of  many 
kinds. 

All  kinds  of  stone  are  quarried.  From  the  hardest 
and  toughest  granite,  or  from  the  tough  or  soft  sand- 
stones and  grits,  to  the  merest  sand  in  a  pit, — from  fine 
white  statuary  marble,  through  all  varieties  of  limestone, 
to  chalk, — from  magnificent  sheets  of  slate  to  poor  shale, 
there  are  places  to  be  found  where  it  is  worth  while  to 
pare  away  the  vegetable  soil  and  subsoil,  to  cut  the  hard 
rock  into  a  series  of  steps  such  as  giants  might  climb,  to 
split  away  the  stone  with  blasts  of  gunpowder,  to  pile 
the  waste  stone  or  let  it  fall  down  some  steep  slope  to  the 
sea,  and  thus  to  exhibit  the  skeleton  of  the  earth  for  con- 
venient observation  and  experiment. 

Very  large  and  magnificent  are  some  of  these  illustra- 

151 


152      PLACEMENT  AND  DISPLACEMENT  OF  STONES. 

tions  of  Nature,  and  often  the  contents  of  such  large 
quarries  are  of  absorbing  interest.  Others  are  much 
smaller,  and  in  many  cases  the  whole  interest  is  concen- 
trated in  the  present  works,  the  surface  soon  becoming 
weathered  by  the  action  of  damp  air,  rain,  and  frost. 

The  points  of  chief  interest  in  quarries  are  these : 
(1.)  They  show  us  the  mineral  crust  of  the  earth,  sands 
converted  into  sandstones,  muds  into  limestone  or  slate, 
materials  of  which  we  know  very  little  into  granite.  (2.) 
They  show  us  the  peculiar  changes  in  position  by  which 
these  materials,  once  at  the  bottom  of  deep  water,  have 
been  placed  in  the  order  we  now  find  them ;  or,  in  other 
words,  they  illustrate  the  nature  of  the  forces  that  have 
lifted  the  earth's  crust.  (3.)  They  show  us  very  often, 
in  a  perfectly  distinct  manner,  that  the  original  accumu- 
lation, now  stone,  was  a  succession  of  shelly  beds,  or  an 
alternation  of  shelly  and  impalpable  mud,  or  a  heap  of 
sand  followed  by  mud  with  shells.  (4.)  They  tell  us 
whether  the  original  material  was  deposited  in  water, 
and  whether  the  water  was  deep  or  shallow.  (5.)  They 
enable  us  to  measure,  in  a  rough  and  approximate  way, 
the  relative  time  required  for  the  original  deposit.  (6.) 
They  inform  us  of  the  changes  that  have  taken  place 
in  the  arrangements  of  the  animal  and  vegetable  world 
since  the  present  hard  rock  was  deposited  as  soft  mud. 

In  the  present  chapter  we  will  only  consider  a  few  of 
these  numerous  and  valuable  sources  of  information.  It 
is  in  quarries  that  we  can  most  easily  learn  how  the 
stones  in  the  book  are  built  into  their  places;  how  they 
have  passed  from  one  state  to  another;  how  they  are 
connected  with  remains  indicating  life;  how  in  under- 


IN    THE    QUARRY    AND    THE    MINE.  153 

going  one  kind  of  change — hardening  to  become  stone — 
they  have  undergone  another, — splitting  up  by  the  gene- 
ral contraction  of  the  mass;  how  in  some  cases  the  ani- 
mal or  vegetable  has  been  embalmed  in  a  perfect  state, 
while  in  others  we  find  only  its  broken  shell,  a  few  frag- 
ments of  bone,  the  impression  of  a  leaf,  or  the  impress 
where  an  organic  substance  has  once  lain. 

In  all  these  respects  quarries  are  so  varied  that  no  two 
teach  precisely  the  same  lesson.  Each  has  its  own 
special  fact,  and  each  material  has  behaved  so  differently, 
under  apparently  similar  circumstances,  that  no  monotony 
need  be  feared.  We  may  consider  quarries  as  either  of 
granite,  basalt,  slate,  sandstone,  or  limestone.  Chalk, 
although  so  soft,  is  a  variety  of  limestone,  and  tells  the 
same  tale.  Marble  is  a  hard  variety. 

In  granite  quarries  there  is  always  much  grandeur  of 
effect.  The  rock  itself  is  so  hard  and  tough  and  heavy, 
that  if  it  were  not  for  the  natural  lines  of  cracks  with 
which  it  abounds,  it  would  be  hardly  worth  while  to 
quarry  it  at  all.  These  lines  are  wonderfully  systematic, 
and  they  break  up  the  rock  into  masses  of  similar  shape, 
large  or  small,  according  to  circumstances.  Much  of  the 
value  of  granite  depends  on  these  joints,  as  they  either 
assist  or  prevent  the  obtaining  of  large  slabs  or  blocks. 
The  great  quarries  at  Peterhead,  near  Aberdeen,  the 
Cheesewring  Quarries  in  Cornwall,  and  some  others  in 
the  British  Islands,  are  remarkable  instances  of  this. 
The  granite  in  a  quarry  is  not  all  favorable  for  working. 
There  will  be  portions,  called  veins,  exceedingly  hard  and 
durable,  but  by  their  side  will  be  other  veins  equally 
rotten  and  poor.  The  grain  will  be  different,  the  arrange- 


154      PLACEMENT  AND  DISPLACEMENT  OF  STONES. 

ment  of  the  particles  of  the  stone  will  vary,  and  a  thou- 
sand little  local  peculiarities  will  exist.  It  is  these  that 
are  so  instructive.  By  the  study  of  these  the  history  of 
granite  will  have  to  be  learnt;  and  the  direction,  number, 
and  magnitude  of  the  different  veins  will  be  found  to 
lead  to  curious  generalizations.  It  is  thus  that  the  struc- 
ture is  discovered,  and  the  varieties  of  structure  are  so 
great  that  no  two  quarries  are  exactly  alike. 

It  often  happens  that  a  very  wide  district  will  be  gov- 
erned by  similar  laws  with  reference  to  the  direction  of 
the  principal  joints  and  systems  of  crevices.  There  will 
be  an  apparent  system  in  all  the  sides  and  backs  of  the 
rock,  a  fact  which  (naturally  enough)  is  known  practically 
to  every  good  quarryman.  But  these  systematic  joints, 
which  by  the  quarryman  are  only  thought  of  as  assisting 
him  in  his  work  of  destruction,  are  recognized  and  theo- 
rized upon  by  the  geologist  in  reference  to  the  nature  of 
granite  itself. 

But  no  granite  is  without  veins  of  another  kind  of 
rock  penetrating  its  mass.  These,  indeed,  are  sometimes 
so  large  and  so  numerous  as  to  be  intimately  mixed  up 
with  the  rock,  but  at  other  times  are  so  small  as  to  resem- 
ble mere  threads.  Narrow  strings  of  quartz  and  broader 
stripes  of  porphyry,  rotten  films  of  granite  and  oval  blis- 
ters, as  well  as  other  surer  indications  of  great  change, 
and  that  of  a  chemical  nature,  abound.  A  rough  and 
doubtful  appearance  of  existing  in  layers  or  strata  is  not 
unusual,  but  the  vein-structure  chiefly  prevails.  If  at 
the  sea-side,  the  waves  will  have"  helped  to  render  this 
very  clear.  Sometimes  the  vein,  sometimes  the  rock, 
is  the  hardest;  and  whichever  may  be  so  is  sure  to  be 


IN   THE    QUARRY   AND   THE    MINE.  155 

found  jutting  out,  while  the  softer  portions  are  worn  and 
eaten  away  into  caverns  and  recesses. 

Granite  generally  improves  in  quality  on  being  followed 
to  some  depth  below  the  surface.  It  has  not  escaped  the 
effect  of  weathering,  and  the  stone  is  often  split  into 
fragments  too  small  to  be  of  much  use  where  it  has  long 
been  exposed  to  the  air.  Not  unfrequently  it  is  alto- 
gether rotten  close  to  the  surface,  and  is  converted  into 
a  mixed  mass  of  rounded  fragments  and  fine  sand. 
However  this  may  be,  there  is  always  something  to  show 
to  the  experienced  eye  the  real  nature  of  the  case. 

If  the  chief  mechanical  lesson  that  can  be  learnt  in  a 
granite  quarry  is  the  curious  tendency  to  split  only  in 
certain  directions  and  break  up  into  regular  solids,  some- 
times roughly  bedded,  there  is  much  more  to  be  seen,  and 
even  greater  difficulties  are  to  be  surmounted,  if  we 
would  understand  the  structure  of  slate.  Here  the  whole 
rock  presents  material  for  study.  In  a  large  quarry  there 
will  be  only  certain  portions  that  contain  the  best  slate, 
and  many  times  more  of  the  material  quarried  is  thrown 
away  than  can  be  sent  away  for  sale.  But  all  is  charac- 
terized by  the  same  peculiarity  of  splitting,  carried  to  an 
extent  almost  inconceivable.  Throughout  not  only  the 
whole  of  a  quarry,  but  often  in  a  large  district  scores  of 
square  miles  in  extent,  is  seen  everywhere  a  general  tend- 
ency of  all  the  rock  to  split  in  one  direction.  That  this 
is  not  the  direction  in  which  the  beds  were  thrown  down 
from  water  is  often  quite  clear,  from  the  position  of  shells 
found  lying  in  natural  order,  and  indicating  a  very  dif- 
ferent arrangement.  But  this  is  not  all.  Besides  the 
cleavage,  as  the  former  tendency  is  called, — being  that 


156      PLACEMENT  AND  DISPLACEMENT  OF  STONES. 

according  to  which  the  mass  can  be  cleaved  or  split  up 
into  thin  plates,  adapted  for  roofing  and  other  purposes, 
— and  the  bedding,  as  the  latter  arrangement  indicates, 
there  is  also,  as  in  granite,  a  splitting  of  another  kind, 
by  joints  or  "backs/'  often  helping  the  quarryman,  and 
pointing  out  to  him  the  direction  in  which  his  blast  will 
be  most  efficacious.  These  joints,  too,  are  in  sets  parallel 
to  each  other  and  making  definite  angles,  so  that  we 
have  in  the  slate  quarry  all  there  is  in  the  granite  quarry, 
and  another  and  more  perfect  system  of  splitting  in  ad- 
dition to  that.  Occasional  wide  fissures  in  the  rock, 
filled  up  with  a  different  material,  clearly  show  that  all 
this  has  not  been  accomplished  without  great  exertion  of 
force,  the  nature  of  which  we  shall  have  to  consider 
afterwards.  It  is  clear  that  slate  quarries,  even  in  the 
simple  matter  of  the  structure  of  the  rock,  are  likely 
to  afford  much  instruction. 

Limestone  quarries  are  more  varied  than  those  of 
granite  or  slate.  In  the  first  place,  the  rock  is  sometimes 
marble,  when  the  original  accumulation  by  beds  or  strata 
is  lost;  while,  most  frequently,  the  bedding  is  an  essen- 
tial and  characteristic  feature,  replacing,  after  a  clumsy 
and  imperfect  fashion,  the  cleavage  of  slates.  The  joints 
remain, — the  mass  is  split  into  many  masses,  small  near 
the  surface,  and  gradually  more  brittle,  massive,  and 
compact  as  we  go  deeper.  But,  again,  there  are  dif- 
ferences in  this  respect.  Some  of  the  limestones  are 
carbonates  of  liine ;  some  carbonates  of  lime  and  mag- 
nesia ;  some  are  quite  crystalline,  some  half  crystalline, 
some  not  crystalline  at  all.  Almost  all  are  cracked  and 
broken  near  the  surface;  but,  while  some  are  pierced 


IN   THE   QUARRY   AND   THE    MINE.  157 

through  and  through  by  crevices  and  caverns,  others 
seem  to  have  very  little  of  this  porous  constitution.  The 
joints  in  limestones  are  very  numerous,  and  often  ex- 
tremely systematic,  being  in  sets  parallel  to  each  other, 
and  making  a  uniform  angle  over  very  wide  areas. 
The  hard  and  most  compact  and  brittle  limestones,  ap- 
proaching marbles,  are  sometimes  not  at  all  bedded,  or 
rather,  perhaps,  this  structure  is  obliterated.  The  softer 
and  less  altered  rocks  abound  generally  in  fossils,  and 
split  easily  in  the  natural  beds, — some  of  these  serving 
as  good  stone,  others  very  poor,  and  others  powdery 
and  bad.  In  all  these  cases  the  crevices  are  still  sys- 
tematic. 

Sandstones  are  very  generally  bedded,  but  the  beds 
are  often  thick,  and  only  separated  one  from  another  by 
thin  films  of  iron,  sand,  or  dirt.  The  harder  kinds  of 
sand-rock  are  always  jointed,  and  the  rock  breaks  accord- 
ing to  this  structure.  The  bedding  is  often  marked  by 
indications  of  animals  or  vegetables,  but  these  are  some- 
times mere  impressions  made  by  stems  of  sea- weed  drifted 
upon  the  sand,  or  the  trails  of  animals  that  have  passed 
over  the  mud  while  the  rock  was  being  formed. 

Quarries  in  basalt  are  often  in  the  highest  degree 
picturesque,  for  they  exhibit  a  curious  columnar  appear- 
ance, the  result  of  the  somewhat  rapid  cooling,  under 
peculiar  circumstances,  of  the  lava  of  which  the  rock 
consists.  That  melted  rock  does  cool  in  these  forms  is 
well  known  by  actual  experiment,  and  the  magnitude  of 
the  mass  does  not  seem  to  produce  any  change.  Some 
of  the  most  striking  quarry  phenomena  in  existence  are 
derived  from  huge  masses  of  this  kind  of  material,  black 
14 


158      PLACEMENT  AND  DISPLACEMENT  Or  STONES. 

and  frowning,  but  of  marvellous  and  systematic  regu- 
larity; the  masses  breaking  up  very  readily  into  short 
six-sided  columns,  well  adapted  for  certain  purposes  of 
construction.  On  the  banks  of  the  Rhine  there  are 
many  fine  instances  of  the  kind ;  and  other  places,  where 
there  have  been  volcanoes  in  former  times,  are  similarly 
circumstanced. 

But  there  is  absolutely  no  resemblance  between  their 
appearances  and  those  of  rock  deposited  from  water. 
They  clearly  show  their  origin,  and  this  is  in  all  details 
of  structure  as  well  as  in  general  aspect.  At  a  distance, 
indeed,  there  is  a  marked  flatness  where  such  material 
is  spread  over  the  earth  on  a  large  scale ;  for  all  is  rock 
once  fluid  from  heat,  and  often  it  has  been  poured  forth 
at  the  bottom  of  the  sea  beneath  a  great  pressure  of 
water. 

Quarries,  then,  each  one  in  its  own  way,  may  be 
regarded  as  illustrative  of  the  state  of  rocks  after  they 
have  been  placed,  and  when  they  are  so  far  altered  as  is 
involved  in  their  being  now  near  the  surface: — altered 
by  those  slow  processes  that  go  on  out  of  sight,  and 
deep  in  the  earth,  or  under  the  waves, — altered  by  being 
lifted  up,  and  thus  exposed  to  enormous  squeezing, — 
altered,  lastly,  by  exposure  to  rain  and  sun,  cold  and 
heat,  precisely  in  the  way  in  which  these  causes  of 
change  are  most  efficacious. 

To  obtain  good  stone,  many  methods  are  resorted  to, 
besides  merely  paring  away  the  surface,  and  working  the 
hill-side  or  cliff  into  convenient  steps.  Near  the  city 
of  Caen,  whence  comes  stone  that  has  been  used  for  the 
last  thousand  years  in  the  construction  of  buildings  both 


IN   THE   QUARRY   AND   THE    MINE.  159 

in  France  and  England,  a  very  beautiful  cream-colored 
limestone  is  obtained  by  long  tunnels,  run  into  the  earth 
at  the  foot  of  a  low  cliff  by  a  river.  The  stone  thus 
reached  has  not  been  exposed  to  weathering,  and  is  much 
finer  and  less  injured  than  from  parts  of  the  same  bed 
near  the  surface.  Since,  also,  particular  beds  are  more 
valuable  than  others,  these  must  be  followed  out  of  sight, 
since  the  mass  above  them  could  never  be  removed. 
Thus  the  fact  of  the  beds  or  strata  that  come  out  to 
the  surface  at  one  place  being  continued  out  of  sight  in 
another,  is  shown  by  actual  experiment.  In  thus  work- 
ing it  is  often  necessary,  for  the  sake  of  air,  to  sink  a 
deep  hole  or  shaft,  to  meet  this  gallery  run  in  for  the 
stone,  and  thus  we  have  the  first  illustration  of  mining 
operations  as  distinct  from  quarrying.  In  one  sense, 
indeed,  mining  is  only  quarrying  under  ground  out  of 
sight  of  day;  and  when  the  object  of  mining  is  to  get 
coal,  this  is  really  all  that  is  needed  mechanically. 

Mines,  however,  generally  lay  bare  other  peculiarities 
of  structure,  and  even  of  composition,  of  rocks  than 
those  seen  in  ordinary  quarries.  In  the  first  place,  mines, 
when  not  for  coal,  are  generally  in  districts  where  the 
many  open  spaces  in  rocks  are  now  filled  up,  partly  or 
altogether,  with  foreign  minerals.  Mining  is  carried  on 
for  ores, — or  those  stones  from  which  metal  is  obtained; 
and  most  of  them  actually  occupy  the  crevices  formed 
long  ago  in  such  rocks,  as  granite,  slate,  sandstone,  or 
limestone.  Such  crevices  are  then  called  veins. 

We  have  seen  how  systematic  the  cracks  in  these 
rocks  are,  and  now,  in  reference  to  mining,  this  corre- 
spondence in  direction  of  the  chief  systems  will  be  found 


160      PLACEMENT  AND  DISPLACEMENT  OF  STONES. 

to  extend  far  and  characterize  large  districts.  If  we 
take  Cornwall,  our  own  great  mining  district,  and  look 
at  the  Ordnance  Map,  geologically  colored  to  show  the 
rocks  and  their  condition,  we  shall  see  a  number  of  gilt 
lines  parallel  or  nearly  parallel  to  each  other,  ranging 
nearly  east  and  west,  but  crossed  by  others  running  more 
nearly  north  and  south.  On  looking  more  closely,  the 
former  will  be  seen  to  mark  the  places  where  the  great 
copper  and  tin  mines  are  placed;  while  the  latter,  if 
they  show  mine's,  are  chiefly  lead  and  silver.  Miners  call 
the  former,  or  east  and  west  veins  or  crevices,  by  the 
name  of  lodes  or  right-running  veins.  The  others  are 
called  cross-courses,  and  are  less  valuable.  Something 
of  the  same  kind  marks  every  great  mining  district. 
The  object  of  the  miner  is  to  discover  and  reach  the 
deposits  of  valuable  mineral  in  these  veins,  and  every 
point  of  geological  knowledge  concerning  the  structure 
of  the  rocks  is  useful  to  him,  in  as  far  as  it  assists  in 
this. 

Under  ground  in  mines,  therefore,  as  well  as  above 
ground  in  quarries,  the  geologist  must  pursue  his  studies, 
— must  compare,  and  examine,  and  decide,  to  the  best 
of  his  ability,  how  far  the  veins  affect  the  rock,  or  are- 
affected  by  it, — what  are  the  conditions  favorable  for  ore, 
and  what  appearances  are  deceptive  and  unfavorable. 
In  these  dark  recesses  he  learns  many  important  lessons; 
he  sees  under  what  conditions  rocks  yield  valuable  mine- 
rals, or  refuse  them;  and  he  learns  other  lessons,  more 
valuable  and  instructive,  inasmuch  as  they  are  less 
marked  and  confused  with  surface-action. 

Thus,  then,  there  are  means  available  in  most  countries, 


IN    THE   QUARRY   AND    THE   MINE.  161 

and  often  in  many  parts  of  a  country, — in  most  rocks,  and 
often  in  the  same  rock,  under  very  different  conditions, — 
for  making  out  Nature's  work,  in  preparing  rocks  for 
their  ultimate  destiny.  Originally  the  river-bed  and  the 
ocean-floor,  covered  up  with  other  deposits  or  pressed 
down  by  a  steady  weight  of  water,  exposed  to  such  uni- 
form temperature  as  exists  in  the  depths  to  which  they 
are  carried,  they  gradually  lose  their  first  state  and 
acquire  some  other,  according  to  the  causes  that  act. 
Drying  and  hardening,  they  occupy  less  space,  and  crack. 
Elevated  or  depressed,  they  occupy  a  different  space, 
greater  or  smaller;  they  are  squeezed,  and  bent,  and 
altered.  Then  come  those  systematic  cracks  which  ter- 
minate in  veins,  originally  open  crevices,  but,  as  time 
goes  on,  filled  up  with  various  minerals  and  metals. 
Ultimately  brought  near  the  surface,  they  are,  each  time 
a  movement  takes  place,  gradually  more  and  more  split, 
and  the  original  crevices  become  more  and  more  defined, 
larger,  and  more  systematic.  At  length  the  whole  rock 
is  left  high  and  dry,  as  a  part  of  land, — a  leaf  in  our 
Great  Stone  Book,  having  its  writing  and  its  illustra- 
tions, telling  its  story,  and  helping  to  clear  up  the  earth's 
history. 

Such  are  some  of  the  lessons  to  be  learnt  in  the  quarry 
and  mine.  They  are  lessons  of  importance,  though  not 
perhaps  those  that  the  young  geologist  would  first  direct 
his  attention  to.  Every  crevice  and  joint, — every  bed, — 
every  disturbance  indicated  by  a  fracture  or  heave  of  the 
beds, —  every  obscure  marking, — every  portion  of  the 
stone,  whether  selected  for  superior  excellence  or  set 

14* 


162      PLACEMENT  AND  DISPLACEMENT  OP  STONES. 

aside  as  flawed  and  faulty,  affords  good  material  for 
study.  It  is  here  that  the  plan  and  course  of  Nature 
must  be  learnt;  and  it  is  well  sometimes  to  neglect  the 
fossils,  interesting  as  they  may  be,  for  the  sake  of  the 
laws  that  have  governed  the  whole  deposit. 


VOLCANOES    AND   EARTHQUAKES. 

IN  various  parts  of  the  earth  there  are  mountains  of  a 
sugar-loaf  form,  having  at  the  top  a  cup-shaped  hollow, 
instead  of  rising  to  a  point ;  and  from  within  this  cup, 
or  from  cracks  in  the  side  of  the  mountain,  there  issue 
from  time  to  time  large  quantities  of  steam,  and  various 
stifling  sulphurous  and  other  poisonous  gases.  Showers 
of  fine  ashes  and  lumps  of  stone  are  shot  out  into  the  air 
from  the  same  vent  with  extreme  force,  accompanied  by 
peculiar  sounds  proceeding  from  the  very  depths  of  the 
earth;  while  floods  of  melted  rock,  called  lava,  pour 
forth  over  the  land,  sweeping  away  trees  and  whole 
villages  in  their  course,  filling  up  the  deep  beds  of 
rivers,  and  only  terminating  when  the  sluggish  stream 
of  boiling  lava  accumulates  to  such  a  thickness  at  the 
vent  as  to  overbalance  the  pressure  acting  from  beneathr 
and  thus  close  the  safety-valve  for  a  time. 

Of  all  phenomena,  these  outbursts  of  fire  from  the 
earth  are  among  the  most  alarming  and  mischievous.  In 
former  times,  tens  of  thousands  of  victims  have  been 
sacrificed  to  them ;  and  recently,  within  a  few  years,  there 
have  been  many  terrible  eruptions  recorded,  proving  that 
the  cause  that  produced  them  is  still  at  work,  and  is 

163 


164        PLACEMENT  AND  DISPLACEMENT  OF  STONES. 

as  capable  now  as  it  ever  was  of  overwhelming  a  city 
or  devastating  the  richest  plains.  About  fifty  years  after 
the  death  of  our  Saviour,  two  important  cities  in  South 
Italy,  Herculaneum  and  Pompeii,  were  overwhelmed  by 
loose  ashes  and  melted  rock  erupted  from  Vesuvius,  one 
of  these  mountains;  and  it  has  since  continued,  from 
time  to  time,  to  repeat  similar  eruptions  up  to  the  present 
day.  Etna,  another  far  loftier  mountain,  in  the  island 
of  Sicily,  has  poured  forth  a  burning  flood  within  a  few 
years,  and  is  described,  as  it  appeared  some  2300  years 
ago,  by  Pindar,  one  of  the  earliest  poets  of  Greece,  in 
the  following  sentence  : — "  The  snowy  Etna,  the  pillar  of 
heaven,  the  nurse  of  everlasting  frost,  in  whose  deep 
caverns  lie  concealed  the  fountains  of  unapproachable 
fire;  a  stream  of  eddying  smoke  by  day,  a  bright  and 
ruddy  flame  by  night,  and  burning  rocks  rolled  down 
with  loud  uproar  into  the  sea/' 

Volcanoes  are  of  all  elevations.  In  the  year  1831,  an 
eruption  took  place  in  the  Mediterranean,  between  Sicily 
and  the  site  of  ancient  Carthage,  where  upwards  of  a 
hundred  fathoms  of  water  had  been  proved  by  sound- 
ings; and,  after  this  eruption  had  gone  on  for  some  time, 
an  island  was  formed,  which  ultimately  was  upwards  of 
200  feet  high  and  three  miles  in  circumference,  entirely 
composed  of  incoherent  ashes  thrown  up  out  of  the 
earth.  Other  similar  eruptions  have  taken  place  in  the 
Atlantic  in  still  deeper  water.  At  the  level  of  the  sur- 
face, in  many  parts  of  the  world,  distinct  volcanic  ap- 
pearances have  often  been  reported, — in  Sicily,  in  India, 
and  in  Persia.  In  India,  not  very  far  from  the  mouth  of 
the  Indus,  there  is  a  tract  of  a  thousand  square  miles  of 


VOLCANOES  AND  EARTHQUAKES.        165 

country  covered  with  low  cones  erupted  at  various  times. 
At  Stromboli,  one  of  the  Lipari  Islands,  between  Naples 
and  Sicily,  is  a  constant  eruption  at  an  elevation  of  about 
2300  feet.  Vesuvius  itself  is  4000  feet;  Etna  is  11,000 
feet.  In  the  Sandwich  Islands,  a  few  years  ago,  a  copious 
stream  of  lava,  two  miles  broad  and  twenty-five  miles 
long,  proceeded  from  an  opening  13,000  feet  above  the 
sea;  while  Cotopaxi,  one  of  the  loftiest  mountains  of  the 
Andes,  has  its  cone  and  crater  more  than  20,000  feet 
above  the  sea.  At  all  elevations  there  is  this  mysterious 
power  in  the  earth's  interior  exerted,  and  apparently  with 
little  difference  at  different  heights. 

Very  widely,  too,  are  volcanoes  distributed.  There 
are  several  in  Europe, — five  of  them  active;  for  Etna, 
Vesuvius,  and  Stromboli,  Santorin  in  the  Grecian  Archi- 
pelago, and  Hecla  in  Iceland,  seem  to  have  been  for 
more  than  twenty  centuries  continually  in  readiness  to 
burst  forth,  although  they  are  not  always  throwing  out 
a  sufficient  quantity  of  matter  to  do  serious  injury.  Of 
these  the  three  first  are  in  the  South  of  Italy  and  ad- 
joining islands,  and  are  close  together;  the  fourth  is 
some  distance  towards  Asiatic  land;  but  Hecla  is  far  re- 
moved, touching  the  Arctic  Circle.  In  Asia  there  are 
two  principal  groups, — one  near  the  shores  of  the  Medi- 
terranean, the  other  in  the  central  part  of  the  continent; 
but  the  Asiatic  islands,  between  the  Burmese  peninsula 
and  Australia,  are  everywhere  dotted  over  with  active 
volcanoes,  no  less  than  115  of  which  have  been  named. 
Others  are  known  in  the  Pacific  Ocean ;  while  the  Pacific 
coast  of  America,  and  the  whole  of  Central  America, 
abound  with  them. 


166      PLACEMENT  AND  DISPLACEMENT  OF  STONES. 

But  we  must  not  measure  volcanic  agency  by  the 
number  of  volcanoes  that  have  been  seen  in  activity  in 
recent  times.  Wherever  there  are  peculiar  cone-shaped 
mountains,  made  up  of  piles  of  ashes  and  molten  rock; 
and  even  where  the  materials  are  present  but  the  cone  is 
no  longer  there,  we  may  be  sure  that  the  same  cause  has 
been  at  work.  There  is,  as  far  as  we  know,  no  other  pos- 
sible way  by  which  heaps  of  volcanic  ash  and  lava  can 
have  been  produced  but  that  of  eruption  from  the  earth ; 
and  thus  the  presence  of  the  ashes  marks  the  existence 
at  one  time  of  the  volcano. 

Regarded  in  this  light,  there  is  proof  of  this  reaction 
of  the  interior  of  the  earth  on  the  surface — this  pouring 
forth  volumes  of  matter,  either  melted  or  the  result  of 
'heat — in  many  places  where  there  are  no  volcanoes. 
Even  in  the  British  Islands  such  proof  is  not  wanting; 
for  the  northeast  coast  of  Ireland,  at  the  celebrated 
Giants'  Causeway,  and  the  opposite  islands  of  Scotland. 
Staffa  and  others,  are  remarkable  for  rocks  entirely  iden- 
tical with  the  lavas  of  Vesuvius  and  Hecla.  In  parts  of 
Europe  where  no  one  has  seen  eruptions  there  are  real 
volcanoes,  as  in  Central  France,  and  on  the  Rhine  not 
far  from  Bonn,  in  Hungary  and  in  Northern  Italy.  The 
East  of  Europe,  the  peninsula  of  Spain  and  Portugal^ 
Syria  and  the  Holy  Land,  the  east  coast  of  Africa, 
many  large  tracts  in  Central  and  Southern  Asia,  many 
parts  of  America,  and  several  of  the  West  India  Islands, 
all  present  similar  appearances;  while  many  islands 
rising  out  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Oceans  are  evi- 
dently due  to  the  same  agency.  Volcanoes  recently 
active,  or  indicated  by  the  unmistakable  results  of  their 


VOLCANOES   AND   EARTHQUAKES.  167 

former  activity,  are  thus  proved  to  exist,  or  to  have 
existed,  over  a  very  large  proportion  of  all  the  land  that 
has  yet  been  visited  by  man.  Whether  the  interior  of 
Africa  and  Australia — countries  that  are  as  yet  very 
little  known — will  prove  to  have  been  in  like  manner 
visited  by  volcanic  eruption,  remains  to  be  seen ;  but, 
certainly,  all  that  is  known  at  present  would  lead  us  to 
doubt  whether  they  are  not  rather  freer  in  this  respect 
than  other  tracts  of  the  same  dimensions.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  bottom  of  the  Atlantic  is,  beyond  a  doubt,  sub- 
ject to  very  serious  and,  in  some  places,  frequent  erup- 
tions; while  parts  of  the  Indian  Ocean  are  yet  more  re- 
markable in  this  respect. 

When,  in  addition  to  these  proofs  of  the  existence  of 
some  wide-spread  source  of  heat  in  the  interior  of  the 
earth,  quite  independent  of  the  warmth  obtained  from  the 
sun  at  the  surface,  we  take  into  account  the  multitude  of 
springs  of  hot  water  that  rise  out  of  the  earth  at  various 
places,  and  the  high  temperature  that  is  soon  reached  in 
all  mines,  particularly  in  those  of  great  depth,  we  shall 
be  obliged  to  admit  that  volcanoes  are  only  vents  or  out- 
lets to  heated  matter  far  below  out  of  sight.  That  such 
heated  matter  is  everywhere  present,  could  we  open  a 
communication  with  the  rocks  a  few  thousand  yards 
under  our  feet,  there  can  be  no  doubt;  and  perhaps  the 
occasional  descent  of  water,  soon  turned  into  steam  at 
very  high  pressure,  and  bursting  out  with  resistless  force 
through  the  weakest  and  thinnest  part  of  the  covering 
that  presses  upon  it,  may  serve  as  a  convenient,  if  not  an 
accurate,  explanation  of  the  cause.  Certainly  most  of 
the  active  volcanoes  are  not  far  from  the  sea;  and  those 


168        PLACEMENT  AND  DISPLACEMENT  OF  STONES. 

now  extinct  may  be  so  only  for  a  time,  because  there  is 
no  longer  a  way  for  the  quantity  of  water  to  reach  them 
that  is  necessary  to  lift  the  rocks  above. 

Volcanoes  are  frequently  in  groups,  several  within  a 
comparatively  small  area;  and  it  has  often  been  re- 
marked that  a  great  eruption  happening  in  one  of  a 
group  is  generally  a  sign  that  the  others  will  be  still  and 
undemonstrative.  In  these  cases  they  no  doubt  commu- 
nicate, at  a  certain  depth,  with  some  common  cavity. 
There  are,  however,  exceptions  to  this;  for  sometimes 
eruptions  have  taken  place,  at  no  long  interval,  from 
craters  not  far  from  each  other. 

The  history  of  an  eruption  is  the  next  thing  that  re- 
quires to  be  told.  First  of  all,  there  are  frequently  loud 
noises, — so  loud  as  to  be  heard  hundreds  of  miles  from 
the  part  of  the  earth  where  they  are  produced.  In  the 
year  1835,  a  noise  preceded  an  eruption  from  one  of  the 
great  volcanoes  of  the  Andes,  which  was  heard  to  a  vast 
distance  in  every  direction.  Nor  is  this  a  solitary  in- 
stance; for  there  was  a  case  in  1812,  in  the  West  Indies, 
when  the  noise  was  heard  over  a  tract  of  land  and  sea 
about  as  large  as  all  Europe.  Noises  are  not,  however, 
always  heard,  and  such  thunderings  as  these  are  com- 
parati  irely  rare. 

After  the  noise,  and  sometimes  without  much  previous 
intimation,  there  issues  out  of  cracks  in  the  ground,  or 
from  the  cup-like  depression  near  the  top  of  the  volcano, 
a  strange  mixture  of  several  gases  and  steam,  in  a  rapid 
succession  of  puffs.  The  gases  include  much  sulphur, 
which  is  deposited  like  soot  on  the  walls  of  the  chimney 
through  which  the  eruption  passes.  The  steam  that 


VOLCANOES    AND   EARTHQUAKES.  169 

rushes  out  is  soon  changed  into  water,  which  falls  in 
abundant  showers  of  rain,  and  runs  off  the  surface, 
carrying  with  it  the  sulphur  and  fine  ashes  thrown  up 
at  the  same  time. 

Very  numerous  slight  shocks,  causing  the  ground  near 
the  place  of  eruption  to  tremble,  have  been  next  observed; 
and  in  some  cases  two  or  three  hundred  such  shocks 
have  been  counted,  at  pretty  regular  intervals,  within  an 
hour.  They  seem  to  be  the  precursors  of  the  great  out- 
burst which  follows.  This  consists  of  an  inconceivable 
quantity  of  the  very  finest  dust  that  can  be  conceived, 
thrown  into  the  air,  sometimes  dry,  sometimes  with  steam, 
but  with  such  enormous  force  as  to  be  projected  quite 
into  the  upper  part  of  the  atmosphere,  where  it  comes 
under  the  influence  of  steady  and  strong  currents  of  air, 
and  is  sometimes  carried  for  two  or  three  hundred  miles, 
— gradually  falling,  of  course,  but,  owing  to  its  extreme 
lightness,  not  previously  able  to  reach  the  ground. 
There  are  cases  on  record  in  which  this  dust  has  been 
carried  for  a  thousand  miles,  covering  the  ground,  even 
at  that  distance,  to  a  thickness  of  two  feet.  This  is 
about  what  would  happen  in  London  if  a  similar  erup- 
tion were  to  take  place  in  Vesuvius;  but  there  is  no 
doubt  that  the  upper  currents  of  air  are  both  more  power- 
ful and  steadier  near  the  equator,  where  such  vast  dis- 
tances are  travelled  by  the  dust,  than  in  our  latitudes; 
and,  in  fact,  all  the  remarkable  instances  of  the  kind 
occur  in  the  West  Indian  and  South  American  volcanoes. 
Very  large  stones — stones  as  large  as  an  ox — have  been 
described  as  thrown  into  the  air,  and  shot  to  a  distance1 
of  a  mile  or  two,  from  the  Italian  and  Sicilian  volcanoes; 

15 


170      PLACEMENT  AND  DISPLACEMENT  OF  STONES. 

but  the  dust  does  not  reach  so  far  as  in  the  cases  men- 
tioned. 

The  fine  dust  of  volcanoes  is  not  less  remarkable  for 
the  quantity  that  is  thrown  out,  than  for  the  distance  it 
is  carried.  Cities  have  been  buried  and  lost  in  it,  and 
the  sea  has  been  rendered  almost  unnavigable  for  a  time. 
This  dust  is  the  result  of  a  process  not  much  unlike 
that  of  blowing  off  the  salt  that  is  sometimes  deposited 
in  a  steam-boiler  at  sea;  and  the  ash  was  originally  thin 
bubbles  of  lava/  the  boiling  over  of  the  great  sea  of 
molten  rock,  mixed  with  steam  in  place  of  common  air, 
— the  bubbles  exploding  with  violence  as  soon  as  the 
pressure  is  removed. 

After  the  ashes  have  been  ejected,  the  next  event,  in  a 
complete  eruption,  is  the  rending  open  of  the  side  of  the 
mountain,  and  the  slow,  majestic  pouring  forth  of  a  river 
of  melted  stone,  called  lava,  which  is  forced  out  in  a 
semi-fluid  or  pasty  state,  and,  after  a  while,  cools  and 
bridges  over  at  the  surface.  This  does  not  prevent  the 
gradual  issue  of  more  and  more  of  the  same  material, 
which  creeps  on,  adapting  itself  to  the  irregularities  of 
the  ground, — carrying  away  every  obstacle, — filling  up 
great  depressions,  such  as  river-channels, — engulfing  vil- 
lages or  towns,  and  quite  altering  the  face  of  the  country 
along  its  course, — burning  every  thing  inflammable, — en- 
closing within  itself  every  thing  that  cannot  be  destroyed, 
and  not  in  any  way  to  be  turned  from  its  course.  In 
1822,  two  streams  of  lava  were  poured  out  from  Vesu- 
vius, the  total  width  of  the  two  being  about  two  miles, 
and  the  length  of  each  of  them  about  six  miles.  In  1852, 
Etna  poured  forth  a  similar  flood,  which  in  the  first  twenty- 


VOLCANOES  AND  EARTHQUAKES.       171 

four  hours  advanced  two  miles  and  a  half  (about  ten  feet 
in  a  minute  on  an  average),  and  then  continued  to  move 
on  more  slowly  for  many  days.  In  Iceland,  floods  of  lava 
have  had  a  depth  or  thickness  of  from  four  to  six  hun- 
dred feet;  and  wherever  these  outpourings  have  taken 
place,  whether  recently  or  in  times  long  since  past,  they 
have  spread  uniformly  over  wide  tracts  of  country, — 
and  the  same  phenomena  have  been  from  time  to  time 
repeated. 

In  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  probably  at  all  periods 
of  the  earth's  history,  the  material  thrown  out  from  vol- 
canoes has  been  alike.  Slight  differences  in  appearance 
and  perhaps,  here  and  there,  peculiar  mineral  combina- 
tions have  been  observed;  but,  essentially,  all  lava  and 
all  volcanic  ash  is  the  same.  The  ash  is,  indeed,  impro- 
perly so  called,  being  merely  pumice  in  a  very  fine  state 
of  division,  the  pumice  itself  being  only  the  froth  of  the 
melted  lava.  It  is,  however,  curious  enough  that  mixed 
with  the  dust,  or  forming  an  essential  part  of  it,  the 
minute  flinty  cases  of  the  simplest  forms  of  vegetation 
(Diatomacese)  have  sometimes  been  found. 

Volcanoes,  then,  are  the  vents  or  outlets  by  which  the 
matter  beneath  the  earth's  surface — when,  from  any  cause, 
obliged  to  expand  and  become  relieved  from  some  excess 
of  force  or  newly-added  force — is  enabled  to  open  com- 
munication to  the  day.  They  are  the  safety-valves  of  the 
fires  glowing  far  beneath  our  feet,  choked  and  foul,  and 
only  available  in  ease  of  absolute  need,  but  then  yielding 
and  preventing  greater  injury  and  irremediable  mischief. 
They  indicate,  in  some  measure,  where  these  fires  are 
most  active,  and  show  that  they  form  belts  or  zones  in 


172      PLACEMENT  AND  DISPLACEMENT  OF  STONES. 

various  parts  of  the  earth,  not  always  and  at  all  times  the 
same,  but  shifting  in  the  course  of  ages,  and  apparently 
never  very  far  from  positions  where  water  can  have  occa- 
sional access.  They  show,  also,  that  the  matter  in  the 
earth's  interior  is  singularly  alike  in  all  places,  and,  more- 
over, that  it  has  always  been  so. 

The  slight  shocks  that  often  immediately,  and  in  quick 
succession,  precede  a  volcanic  eruption,  occasionally  take 
place  on  a  far  grander  scale,  and  at  a  greater  distance 
from  the  scene  of  ultimate  outburst.  They  then  act  on 
a  larger  part  of  the  earth's  surface,  and  produce  results 
which,  however  terrible,  are  not  difficult  to  imagine, 
when  the  conditions  of  producing  and  transmitting  an 
undulation  or  wave  are  considered.  The  earth's  external 
shell — that  coating  of  earth  and  rock  which  covers  up  and 
conceals  all  the  mysteries  of  Nature's  great  laboratory 
— is  in  a  general  sense  elastic.  When,  therefore,  by  some 
means,  a  convulsive  throe  takes  place,  and  a  certain  por- 
tion of  the  surface  is  lifted  up  by  a  force  which  fails  to 
burst  through  and  rend  it  asunder,  the  result  is,  on  a 
more  limited  scale,  the  same  as  would  be  the  case  if  a 
sudden  wave  were  formed  in  water.  The  motion,  once 
produced,  would  be  communicated  to  a  distance,  and  thus 
the  convulsive  upheaval  at  a  single  point  would  be  dis- 
tributed through  a  space  large  in  proportion  to  the  mag- 
nitude and  depth  of  the  original  disturbance  and  the 
degree  of  elasticity  of  the  rocks. 

But  movements  are  not  passed  through  rocks  without 
some  results  that  are  heard  and  felt  by  those  who  in- 
habit the  surface  above.  Each  one  involves  a  shock 
alike  injurious  to  mechanical  constructions,  as  houses  and 


VOLCANOES  AND  EARTHQUAKES.        173 

churches,  and  alarming  to  men  and  animals.  Loud  roll- 
ing, rumbling  sounds  are  heard;  the  earth  not  only  rocks, 
but  wide  yawning  cracks  appear, — not,  indeed,  opening  into 
the  interior,  but  sufficient  to  be  dangerous  and  terrible. 
Tough  rocks  are  strained  and  shaken,  brittle  rocks  are 
broken,  soft  rocks  are  squeezed,  and  thus  a  general  de- 
rangement is  felt. 

The  duration  of  each  earthquake  is  measured  gene- 
rally only  by  seconds,  or  even  parts  of  a  second;  and  as 
the  operation  is  so  brief,  and  generally  quite  unexpected, 
it  is  by  no  means  easy  to  obtain  observations  of  time  that 
can  be  depended  on.  If  the  accounts  of  two  or  three 
intelligent  witnesses  to  an  earthquake-shock  are  com- 
pared, they  will  generally  vary  so  much  as  to  remove  all 
confidence  as  to  the  actual  correctness  of  either. 

Earthquakes  have,  generally,  a  distinct  course  over  the 
earth,  and  the  area  within  which  they  are  felt,  however 
large,  is  always  limited.  By  comparing  the  observations 
in  different  places,  it  is  generally  possible  to  mark  the 
range  and  limits  of  each  shock;  and  they  vary  exceed- 
ingly. There  are  many  small  shocks  that  range  only  for 
a  few  scores  of  miles,  the  breadth  of  the  zone  affected 
being  only  a  few  miles.  A  great  earthquake  will  be  felt 
across  a  continent,  or  even  across  the  whole  breadth  of 
the  Atlantic, — affecting,  in  the  course  of  a  short  time, 
the  coast  of  Spain,  the  interior  of  Scandinavia,  Eastern 
Russia,  and  Canada,  with  all  intermediate  spots,  and, 
almost  at  the  same  time,  the  West  Indies  and  the  coast 
of  Africa. 

The  proportion  of  the  earth's  surface  liable  to  be 
shaken  in  this  way — judging  only  by  the  actual  expe- 
ls* 


174      PLACEMENT  AND  DISPLACEMENT  OF  STONES. 

rience  of  the  last  few  centuries  as  recorded  in  authentic 
statements — would  seem  to  be  very  much  larger  than 
could  at  first  be  thought.  So  completely,  indeed,  does  it 
include  all  the  land  with  which  we  are  most  familiar, 
that  we  can  hardly  resist  the  conclusion  that  no  district 
is  free.  Earthquakes  are  very  frequent  in  the  British 
Islands,  upwards  of  a  hundred  having  been  recorded 
within  the  first  half  of  the  present  century, — this  being 
at  the  rate  of  one  every  six  months  during  the  time. 
In  the  same  half-century  about  the  same  number  of 
shocks  are  described  as  having  been  felt  in  Scandinavia ; 
but  these  were  not  mere  continuations  of  those  felt  in 
the  British  Islands.  So,  also,  of  300  that  took  place  in 
France,  Belgium,  and  Holland,  170  in  the  basin  of  the 
Rhine  and  Switzerland,  and  150  in  the  basin  of  the 
Danube,  by  far  the  larger  proportion  were  limited  to  the 
particular  district,  taking  the  course  of  the  river-basins 
and  not  traceable  beyond.  In  the  Italian  peninsula 
there  have  been  nearly  500  within  the  first  half  of  the 
century,  and  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  Mediterranean 
as  many  as  200.  But  throughout  Russia,  unless  the 
absence  of  any  record  is  to  be  accounted  for  by  the 
apathy  and  want  of  habit  of  recording  natural  events 
common  with  uncivilized  and  half-civilized  people,  the 
earthquakes  have  been  very  few;  and  the  same  may  be 
said  of  the  interior  of  Africa.  It  may  be  regarded  as 
clearly  proved  that  the  whole  of  the  western  part  of 
European  land  is  now,  and  has  been  for  some  time,  sub- 
ject to  earthquake  vibrations,  occurring  very  frequently. 
Each  separate  vibration  is  generally  small,  few  extending 
beyond  the  districts  in  which  they  seem  to  have  originated. 


VOLCANOES   AND   EARTHQUAKES.  175 

Asia  and  America  are  subdivided  naturally,  like 
Europe,  into  earthquake  regions;  and  only  the  larger 
disturbances  seem  to  cross  the  line  of  demarcation  that 
surrounds  each  area,  which  seems  generally  sufficient  to 
enclose  the  ordinary  and  small  disturbances.  In  both 
countries,  and  indeed  in  Europe  also,  there  are  at  inter- 
vals catastrophes  which  are  more  terrible  as  the  interval 
between  them  is  greater.  About  once  in  each  century 
there  has  generally  been  such  a  catastrophe  in  some  part 
of  the  world ;  and  during  the  hundred  years  intervening 
between  great  earthquakes  the  intermediate  pulsations 
have  made  up  in  number  what  they  want  in  intensity  and 
range  of  action. 

There  are  very  curious  facts  made  out  by  a  careful 
comparison  of  known  earthquakes  and  the  circumstances 
that  preceded  and  followed  them.  Out  of  nearly  six 
thousand  that  have  been  so  far  described  as  to  have  their 
dates  mentioned,  considerably  more  than  half  occurred 
during  the  colder  six  months  of  the  year;  and  this 
general  result  is  rendered  more  interesting  when  we  find 
that  in  each  separate  earthquake  district,  taken  separately, 
the  result  is  the  same;  while  if  we  only  take  the  dis- 
turbances of  the  present  century  the  result  is  even  more 
strongly  marked.  Grouping  the  earthquakes  in  months, 
we  find  that  the  greatest  number  have  taken  place  in  the 
month  of  January  and  the  smallest  number  in  July,  the 
proportion  being  about  three  to  two.  So,  again,  if  we 
divide  the  year  into  quarters,  we  find  January,  February, 
and  March  to  be  the  months  in  which  the  greater  number 
have  taken  place,  and  May,  June,  and  July  the  smallest. 
Thus,  in  the  three  first  months  of  the  year  1669  are  re- 


176      PLACEMENT  AND  DISPLACEMENT  OF  STONES. 

corded,  and  in  the  three  early  summer  months  only  1281 
There  seems  no  way  of  escaping  from  the  odd  conclusion 
that  earthquakes  are  more  likely  to  take  place  in  cold 
than  in  warm  weather. 

If,  then,  volcanoes  are  safety-valves  heavily  loaded, 
which  occasionally  admit  the  pent-up  vapors  from  the 
earth's  interior  not  only  to  escape,  but  to  carry  with 
them  millions  of  tons'  weight  of  solid  matter  to  the  sur- 
face, and  if  earthquakes  afford  ample  proof  that  con- 
vulsive movements,  affecting  large  but  variable  tracts  of 
land,  are  also  extremely  common,  and  cannot  but  affect 
in  a  marked  degree  the  countries  subjected  to  them,  there 
appears  ground  for  believing  that  the  ordinary  course  of 
Nature  provides  means  for  making  those  alterations  of 
level  which  we  spoke  of  in  the  last  chapter,  and  modify- 
ing the  condition  and  position  of  rocks  at  the  earth's 
surface  to  the  extent  described  by  geologists.  It  remains 
only  to  see  whether  the  mere  undulation  or  vibration  of  the 
earthquake  is  accompanied,  habitually  or  occasionally,  by 
a  positive  and  definite  change  of  level  of  the  part  of  the 
country  in  which  it  occurs. 

The  recorded  instances  are  very  numerous  of  perma- 
nent change  of  level  accompaning  disturbances  in  vol- 
canic or  earthquake  districts.  In  the  neighborhood  of 
Vesuvius  there  is  proof  of  both  elevations  and  depres- 
sions to  the  extent  of  twenty  or  thirty  feet  along  an  ex- 
tended line  of  coast  and  to  some  distance  inland,  and  this 
so  gradually  as  not  to  destroy  buildings,  but  simply  sub- 
merge them  when  close  to  the  shore.  The  rate  a  few 
years  ago  was  estimated  at  an  inch  every  four  years,  but 
is  now  different. 


VOLCANOES    AND    EARTHQUAKES.  177 

So  lately  as  in  1835  an  earthquake  was  felt  in  Chili, 
between  Copiapo  and  Chiloe,  and  for  some  distance  out  at 
sea.  After  the  earthquake,  ships  that  had  been  riding  at 
anchor  in  upwards  of  forty  feet  of  water  were  found  to 
have  grounded,  and  many  shoals  became  quite  dry ;  while 
the  shore  became  one  mass  of  recently-killed  mussels, 
chitons,  limpets,  and  seaweeds,  still  adhering  to  the  rocks 
on  which  they  had  before  lived,  the  sea  not  rising 
to  within  four  or  five  feet  of  its  former  level  The 
ground  afterwards  sunk  slightly,  leaving,  however,  a  per- 
manent elevation  over  an  area  of  some  thousands  of 
square  miles.  A  similar  result  had  been  produced  by  an 
earthquake  in  1822,  on  a  still  grander  scale,  over  a  tract 
of  country  nearly  as  large  as  Great  Britain  and  Ireland. 

In  1819,  after  a  celebrated  earthquake  near  Bombay, 
a  large  district  sunk  down  and  became  permanently 
covered  with  water,  while  at  the  same  time  an  adjacent 
district  was  raised  above  its  former  level.  The  newly- 
raised  country  measures  fifty  miles  from  east  to  west, 
and  is  sixteen  miles  broad. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  multiply  instances  of  this  kind, 
all  tending  to  prove  that  the  violent  shake  and  disturb- 
ance noticed  during  earthquakes  may  be,  and  often  is,  the 
result  of  some  deep  subterranean  force  lifting  up  the 
whole  mass  of  solid  matter  in  its  convulsive  effort  to  ex- 
pand. Sometimes  this  is  followed  by  a  collapse,  the  rocks 
afterwards  sinking  into  some  vast  cavern. 

But  we  have  further  proof  that  even  where  volcanic 
eruptions  do  not  extend,  there  are  still  upheavals  and  de- 
pressions going  on,  calculated  to  alter,  in  time,  the  form 
of  the  land  and  the  proportion  of  land  and  water  in  cer- 


178      PLACEMENT  AND  DISPLACEMENT  OF  STONES. 

tain  districts.  In  that  closed  sea  the  Baltic,  where  the 
tides  hardly  penetrate,  and  especially  in  some  of  the  long 
inlets  and  gulfs  by  means  of  which  it  penetrates  the  land, 
it  has  long  been  known  that  the  land  is  undergoing  a 
slow  upheaval.  This  was  spoken  of  in  1807  by  the 
celebrated  German  traveller  Yon  Buch,  and  it  has  'since 
been  proved  that  there  is  no  doubt  of  the  fact  of  the 
rising  of  the  land.  Marks  were  put  at  various  places, 
natural  objects  were  noticed,  and  every  precaution  taken 
against  inaccuracy.  The  result  is  a  conviction,  in  the 
minds  of  careful  observers,  that  the  whole  of  the  land 
on  the  upper  part  of  the  Gulf  of  Bothnia  is  really  under- 
going a  steady  elevation,  while  south  of  that  the  move- 
ment, if  any,  is  rather  one  of  depression. 

In  many  parts  not  only  of  the  coast  of  Scandinavia 
but  of  our  own  shores,  and  indeed  all  along  the  Atlantic 
coast,  there  are  seen  at  intervals  ancient  sea-beaches  at 
levels  greatly  above  the  highest  which  the  sea  now 
reaches.  These  show  that  elevation  has  taken  place  to 
an  extent  amounting  in  some  cases  to  sixteen  hundred 
feet,  while  it  happens  occasionally  that  we  find  at  no 
great  distance  equally  good  proof  of  local  depression. 
While  the  shells  and  pebbles  that  once  formed  a  sea- 
beach  are  lifted  high  in  the  air,  the  trees  and  other 
objects  before  above  the  sea,  including  even  buildings, 
are  occasionally  buried  many  feet  deep,  and  occupy  posi- 
tions quite  incompatible  with  their  growth  or  with  their 
existence  as  human  constructions. 

Thus,  then,  it  appears  that  by  natural  causes  still  in 
action,  more  marked  in  some  parts  of  the  earth  than  in 
others,  but  traceable  over  a  large  surface,  there  are 


VOLCANOES   AND   EARTHQUAKES.  179 

changes  taking  place  whose  tendency  must  be  to  break 
asunder,  compress,  and  tilt  up  the  various  rocks  between 
the  seat  of  disturbance  and  the  surface,  However  small 
the  result  may  seem  at  one  operation,  still,  as  it  goes  on 
at  intervals  without  limit  of  time,  it  must  at  length  pro- 
duce'large  and  important  consequences.  By  such  means, 
indeed,  all  the  appearances  alluded  to  in  the  last  chapter 
can  be  produced,  and  all  the  fractures,  elevations,  and 
depressions  accounted  for.  The  only  element  required 
is  time;  and  if  it  be  admitted  that  the  earth  as  a  planet 
has  been  in  existence  long  enough  to  account  in  a  rea- 
sonable way  for  the  production  of  the  rocks  themselves 
and  their  co-ntents,  there  is  nothing  more  required  to 
account  for  other  movements  and  changes  in  position. 
Some  of  these  have  always  been  going  on,  contempo- 
raneously with  the  deposit  of  fresh  rocks  derived  from 
the  destruction  of  the  old  ones. 

Of  the  cause  of  earthquakes  and  other  upheavals  of 
the  outer  crust  of  the  earth,  it  is  easy  to  theorize,  but 
difficult  to  try  experiments.  They  seem,  as  we  have  said, 
to  be  more  common  at  certain  seasons  than  at  others,  and 
they  seem  also  to  have  some  mysterious  relation  to  the 
moon  and  sun.  How  far  they  are  governed  by  those 
forces  of  electricity  and  earth-magnetism  that  are  ever 
passing  through  and  round  the  earth,  observation  has 
not  yet  shown;  but  that  they  are  parts  of  a  great  system 
not  limited  to  our  earth,  but  influenced  greatly  by  our 
relations  with  the  sun  as  the  centre  of  our  system,  re- 
cent observation  would  show  to  be  at  least  probable. 

We  learn  by  these  considerations  how  little,  in  any 
sense,  men  can  claim  independent  existence.  As  inhabit- 


180      PLACEMENT    AND   DISPLACEMENT   OP    STONES. 

ants  of  the  earth  we  are  mutually  dependent  on  each 
other  and  on  all  that  lives  above,  around,  or  beneath  us; 
but  we  are  not  less  dependent  on  the  various  conditions 
of  matter  and  on  the  laws  that  govern  matter. 

Our  earth  also  with  its  attendant  moon  mutually  in- 
fluence each  other,  and  much  of  the  change  necessary 
for  our  well-being  is  due  to  the  presence  of  that  satellite 
whose  light  is  the  smallest  part  of  its  value.  Our  earth 
and  moon,  as  one  group,  form  part  of  a  large  system  of 
bodies  by  no .  means  all  similarly  constituted  or  com- 
parable one  with  another,  but  all  dependent  on  a  central 
sun.  This  sun,  with  its  following,  is  itself  subordinate, 
and  forms  a  mere  unit  in  a  larger  system.  We  know  not 
how,  or  how  far,  we  have  relation  with  this  infinity  of 
bodies  in  space,  but  we  certainly  are  influenced  by  them  • 
and  it  is  by  such  influences  and  by  forces  thus  widely 
acting  that  the  earthquake  and  the  volcanic  outburst,  the 
storm  within  the  earth,  the  storm  in  the  air,  and  the 
auroral  storm  far  above  out  of  our  knowledge,  are  all 
governed,  and  their  times  and  seasons  fixed.  The  laws 
on  which  these  depend  are  as  definite,  and  act  as  com- 
pletely and  freely,  as  those  which  are  exemplified  in  the 
bursting  of  the  leaves  in  springtide  or  the  ripening  of 
fruit  in  autumn. 


THE   DISTURBANCE    OF   ROCKS. 

LIMESTONES,  sandstones,  and  clays  make  up  a  large 
proportion  of  those  rocks  that  are  commonly  met  with  in 
England;  and  when  we  add  to  them  the  varieties  of  slaty 
and  quartzy  rocks,  there  are  only  left  granite  and  por- 
phyritic  rocks  and  basaltic  rocks  to  complete  the  series. 
But  how  is  it  that  we  can  find  opportunity  of  examining 
all  these  rocks  in  so  small  a  country  as  England?  Do 
they  always  appear  at  the  surface  in  small  patches?  Do 
they  succeed  each  other  in  regular  order?  Is  there  any 
order  at  all  observable  with  regard  to  them  ?  These  are 
questions  that  the  young  geologist  may  be  expected  to 
ask,  and  he  must  be  able  to  answer  them  if  he  is  to  learn 
his  subject  and  face  its  difficulties.  Let  us  in  this  chap- 
ter devote  ourselves  to  questions  of  this  kind,  and  try  to 
make  out  how  and  why  it  is  that  many  rocks,  which  ap- 
pear at  the  same  level  in  traversing  a  small  country,  are 
so  often  described  as  overlying  one  another.  Let  us  add 
to  this  an  inquiry  as  to  how  we  are  to  identify  rocks  in 
distant  parts  of  a  country. 

Geologists,  in  speaking  of  rocks,  describe  them  as  lying 

one  over  another,  like  a  parcel  of  books   heaped  upon 

a  table.     In  one  place  you  see  the  back  of  one  book, 

in  another  a  part  of  the  side  of  a  second.    None  of  the 

16  181 


182      PLACEMENT  AND  DISPLACEMENT  OF  STONES. 

books  reach  much  above  the  level  of  the  table,  but 
with  a  little  care  you  might  make  out  the  titles  of  a  good 
many  without  moving  them,  or  at  least  ^ou  could  recog- 
nize the  bindings  if  these  were  different  one  from  another. 
Fifty  books  thus  heaped  on  a  table  might  occupy  but 
a  small  space  and  no  great  height ;  but  it  would  depend 
entirely  on  the  way  they  were  heaped  as  to  whether  we 
could  make  out  what  they  were  without  moving  them. 

Rocks  are  really  found  lying  one  over  another  in  very 
irregular  positions,  in  a  way  not  much  unlike  those  in 
which  books  would  be  placed  on  a  counter  in  a  book- 
seller's shop.  In  such  a  case  there  would  be  in  one  place 
half  a  dozen  in  a  heap,  and  of  these  we  should  only  see 
one  side  of  the  uppermost.  Elsewhere  there  are  a  num- 
ber placed  on  edge;  but  in  rocks  this  is  rather  an  excep- 
tional position,  while  in  the  bookseller's  shop  it  would  be 
the  most  usual. 

Of  a  number  of  books  carelessly  placed  on  their  edges 
on  a  table,  the  last  one  will  probably  have  fallen  so  as  to 
be  horizontal,  while  others  of  this  group  will  be  more  or 
less  slanted  as  they  are  nearer  to  or  farther  from  the  end. 
Of  the  rocks,  also,  by  far  the  greater  number  are  thus 
slanted,  and  this  notwithstanding  that  they  have  origin- 
ally been  horizontal  and  are  now  more  or  less  tilted; 
whereas  the  books  were  originally  vertical  and  are  now 
more  or  less  fallen.  Bearing  in  mind  this  comparison 
and  the  differences,  let  us  study  some  sea-cliff  or  railway- 
cutting,  especially  seeking  for  simple  and  instructive 
illustrations. 

The  journey  from  London  to  Brighton  is  one  so 
very  frequently  and  easily  made  that  comparatively  few 


THE   DISTURBANCE   OF   ROCKS.  183 

readers  will  be  unacquainted  with  it.  It  affords  numerous 
instances  of  the  way  in  which  rocks  are  arranged,  and 
one  in  which  several  can  be  seen  by  travelling  over  a 
comparatively  small  distance. 


SECTION  FROM    LONDON   TO  BRIGHTON. 

Rocks,  Places. 

a.  London  clay.  1.  London. 

b.  Chalk.  2.  The  North  Downs  above  Merstham. 

c.  Upper  green-sand  and  gault.  3.  Reigate. 

d.  Lower  green-sand.  4.  Horsham. 

e.  Weald  clay.  5.  The  South  Downs  at  Brighton. 
/.  Hastings  sands.  6.  The  Sea  at  Brighton. 

The  above  Diagram  illustrates  several  important  geological  points.  It  is  a 
section  across  beds  tilted  in  opposite  directions,  and  across  what  is  called  a 
valley  of  elevation. 

Passing  from  London,  and  leaving  the  slippery  clays 
of  New  Cross  and  the  clays  covered  with  gravel  at  Syden- 
ham  well  behind,  we  see  near  Croydon  symptoms  of  the 
chalk,  which  is  there  not  far  from  the  surface.  As  the 
chalk  is  easily  reached  by  boring,  not  only  at  and  near 
Croydon  but  at  various  points  between  that  and  London, 
there  is  not  a  shadow  of  doubt  about  the  relative  position 
of  the  clays,  the  gravel,  and  the  chalk  in  this  district; 
and  when,  near  the  long  tunnel  at  Merstham,  the  railway 
passes  through  a  deep  cutting,  it  is  easy  to  see  that  the 
beds  of  chalk  there  incline  towards  London.  This  is 
seen  again  when  we  emerge  from  the  tunnel  at  Merst- 
ham ;  but  not  far  off  the  chalk  is  replaced  by  the  sand 
hills  of  Redhill,  near  Reigate.  Now,  these  sands  come 
out  from  under  the  chalk,  they  are  tilted  in  the  same 
direction  and  nearly  to  the  same  amount,  and  they  are 
farther  from  London.  They  must,  beyond  all  doubt, 


184      PLACEMENT  AND  DISPLACEMENT  OP  STONES. 

have  been  deposited  below,  and  therefore  before  the 
chalk,  and  yet  they  now  form  hills  (Leith  Hill,  &c.) 
nearly  as  high  as  the  top  of  the  chalk-downs.  But  the 
parts  of  the  chalk  itself  that  are  seen  on  coming  out  of 
the  tunnel  must  originally  have  been  some  hundred  feet 
below  those  seen  at  its  entry ;  for  all  the  way  through  we 
have  been  going  across  tilted  beds  as  shown  in  the  dia- 
gram, and  the  beds  we  first  saw  have  come  out  at  the  top 
of  the  downs.  This,  too,  corresponds  exactly  with  what 
we  have  said  about  the  sands.  Advancing  farther  south, 
it  is  soon  seen  that  a  bed  of  clay  comes  out  from  under 
the  sands,  and  at  length  the  sandstones  of  Tunbridge 
Wells  form  hills  which  were  certainly  once  below  the 
clays,  and  therefore,  it  must  be  supposed,  far  below  the 
chalk. 

But  from  about  midway  between  London  and  Brighton 
the  beds  of  sandstone,  instead  of  continuing  to  point 
towards  London,  change  their  direction,  and  are  seen 
quite  as  clearly  inclining  towards  Brighton.  When  we 
approach  Brighton,  clays  cover  up  and  conceal  the  sand- 
stones, sands  cover  the  clays,  and  soon  the  chalk  once 
more  appears,  covering  up  the  sands  just  as  it  does  on 
the  other  side. 

To  come  back  to  our  illustration  of  books  on  a  table, 
it  is  easy  to  arrange  them  so  that  the  appearances  we 
have  described  should  be  given  in  a  general  way.  To 
do  this,  we  should  have  to  put  two  books  to  represent 
each  of  the  beds,  and  the  middle  two  must  be  supported 
on  one  which  is  concealed.  Are  we,  then,  to  regard  the 
chalk  of  Merstham  and  that  at  Brighton  as  altogether 
deposits,  always  separated  as  we  now  see  them, 


THE    DISTURBANCE    OP   ROCKS.  185 

or  are  we  to  look  further  for  information  before  deciding  ? 
If  we  examine  for  ourselves,  we  shall  find  that  we  can 
actually  walk  on  continuous  chalk,  always  the  same  kind 
of  rock  in  every  respect,  from  Beechy  Head  past  Brighton 
and  Worthing  into  Hampshire,  and  thence  back  into  Sus- 
sex and  Surrey,  till  we  come  to  Merstham  Tunnel ;  and 
we  may  then,  if  we  will,  follow  it  to  Dover.  Thus  it  ap- 
pears that  our  chalk  represents  a  broken  book  which  may 
once  have  covered  up  all  the  sands,  clays,  and  sand- 
stones between  the  North  and  South  Downs,  but  whose 
larger  and  central  part  has  been  removed  out  of  sight. 
So,  in  the  same  way,  the  sands  and  clays  represent  other 
broken  books  of  smaller  size.  It  is  not  difficult  to  see 
that  if  we  wish  to  account  rationally  for  these  appear- 
ances we  must  suppose  that  all  the  upper  beds  have  been 
carried  away,  after  having  once  been  lifted  up  and  broken 
asunder  by  some  slow  upheaving  force.  In  this  opera- 
tion of  lifting,  all  that  was  brittle  has  of  course  cracked, 
and  the  tough  beds  have  broken  after  much  straining; 
while  the  middle  tract  of  country  represents  a  saddle  or 
a  ridge  having  the  sides  inclining  different  ways,  like  the 
roof  of  a  house.  The  lowest  beds  are  thus  lifted  up  into 
the  highest  position. 

There  is  clearly  nothing  unreasonable,  still  less  impos- 
sible, in  this  explanation  of  a  series  of  facts  observed  in 
one  short  trip.  We  have,  while  keeping  nearly  on  a 
horizontal  line,  made  our  way  over  or  through,  first  the 
gravel  and  then  the  clays  near  London, — afterwards  the 
chalk,  then  a  bed  of  clay,  and  then  again  some  thick 
beds  of  red  sand.  After  this  we  have  crossed  some 
tough  clay,  different  from  the  first  kind,  and  have  come 
16* 


186      PLACEMENT  AND  DISPLACEMENT  OP  STONES. 

out  into  the  sandstones  of  what  is  known  as  the  Weald, 
or  wooded  part  formerly  (in  Saxon  times  it  was  all  cov- 
ered with  forest)  of  the  county  of  Sussex.  But  when 
we  reach  a  certain  point  in  our  journey  we  find  that  the 
beds  we  had  crossed  and  lost  sight  of  reappear,  inclin- 
ing from  instead  of  towards  us;  and  lastly,  going  on  still 
farther,  we  repeat  all  we  have  done  before,  until  at 
Brighton  the  sea  stops  our  progress. 

This  simple  example  of  tilted  rocks  might  be  very 
much  complicated  if  we  turned  our  steps  to  Wales,  or 
visited  Scotland.  In  those  countries,  where  mountain- 
masses  rise  out  of  the  earth,  the  extent  and  variety  of 
beds  that  we  cross  over  is  much  greater;  and  we  must 
be  prepared  for  long  and  complicated  series  of  lime- 
stones, sandstones,  and  clays  of  very  different  kinds,  with 
occasional  interruptions  by  such  rocks  as  granite  and  slate. 
There  also  the  beds  are  twisted  into  very  peculiar 
shapes :  they  are  sometimes  vertical,  and  are  put  into  all 
sorts  of  strange  attitudes,  and  they  are  often  so  changed 
as  not  to  be  recognizable,  unless  we  actually  trace  them 
from  some  point  at  the  surface  where  they  have  their 
usual  characteristics,  and  thus  fully  identify  them. 

On  the  whole,  it  is  found  that  by  traversing  our  island 
from  east  to  west,  we  gradually  pass  to  rocks  which  lie 
under  those  we  have  lately  visited.  Lower  and  there- 
fore older  rocks  gradually  become  the  surface  rocks  as  we 
get  on  towards  Wales,  and  the  newer  or  upper  rocks  dis- 
appear. No  doubt  there  are  some  exceptions  to  this,  but 
it  is  a  good  and  fair  general  statement.  The  chalk  is 
the  most  easterly,  and  also  the  newest,  of  the  great  series 
of  lime-rocks  of  our  island;  the  Portland-stone,  which 


THE   DISTURBANCE   OF   ROCKS.  187 

comes  next  in  order,  is  the  next  older ;  the  Bath-stones 
are  much  older;  and  the  limestones  of  Clifton  and  South 
Wales,  which  pass  into  marble,  are  of  yet  more  ancient 
date.  So  it  is  with  the  clays  and  sandstones,  speaking 
always  in  a  general  sense ;  but,  as  is  the  case  with  the 
Weald  of  Sussex,  there  are  many  local  exceptions,  -j 

But  are  we  to  suppose  that,  because  the  chalk  is  the 
uppermost  and  newest  rock  and  is  not  found  in  Wales, 
it  has  once  been  there  and  since  removed?  By  no 
means  is  this  necessary  j  and  the  pile  of  books,  our  first 
illustration,  will  still  help  us  out  with  a  suggestion  and 
comparison.  The  books  all  end  somewhere,  and  gene- 
rally soon  and  abruptly.  Similar  beds,  whatever  they 
are,  were  not  formed  at  the  same  time  all  over  the  earth. 
They  form  patches,  sometimes  very  small,  sometimes  much 
larger,  but  they  are  never  exactly  the  same  in  all  respects 
for  a  very  great  distance.  Often  they  disappear  entirely 
arid  suddenly  at  a  particular  place,  and  in  some  cases 
never  extended  beyond  their  present  limits. 

The  beds,  or  strata,  or  by  whatever  other  name  we  call 
the  heaps  of  one  kind  of  rock  found  in  a  certain  district, 
are,  beyond  all  doubt,  exceedingly  variable  in  surface, 
thickness,  and  form,  as  well  as  in  material.  One  is  a 
long  stretch  of  a  particular  kind  of  clay,  ranging  for  hun- 
dreds of  miles,  but  of  very  small  breadth.  Such  a  bed 
might  have  been  formed  on  an  ancient  coast.  Another 
is  a  uniform  and  widely-extended  mass  of  sand,  here  and 
there  mixed  with  beds  of  clay,  sometimes  full  of  salt, 
not  unfrequently  hardened  into  distinct  layers  of  stone, 
but  always  so  far  the  same  that  we  can  easily  prove  the 
identity.  This  might  have  been  a  sea-bottom,  since  lifted 


188      PLACEMENT  AND  DISPLACEMENT  OF  STONES. 

and  dried  up.  A  third,  and  many  besides  it,  may  have 
been  composed  of  limestone  separated  by  animals;  some 
of  it  by  animalcules  at  the  sea-bottom;  some  by  heaps 
of  solid  coral  pushing  out  and  rising  up  against  the  whole 
force  of  the  waves  of  an  open  sea;  some  of  it,  again, 
may  be  the  debris  of  innumerable  shells  drifted  into  a 
bank  by  some  local  current.  Every  one  of  these  was 
originally  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  and  owed  its  origin  as 
well  as  its  form  to  some  local  cause  which  we  can  now 
only  guess  at;  but  since  then  all  have  been  moved  from 
their  original  position, — have  been  covered  up  in  part  by 
other  deposits; — have  become  hardened  or  altered,  and 
have  been  at  length  partly  pared  away  while  being  lifted 
into  the  upper  air  and  exposed  to  the  action  of  weather 
and  water. 

What  has  happened  in  England  has  happened  else- 
where, but  by  no  means  always  in  the  same  proportion. 
In  some  countries,  as  in  the  great  plain-country  of  the 
North  and  East  of  Europe,  the  deposits  remain  extended 
uniformly  over  hundreds  of  thousands  of  square  miles 
hardly  altered  at  all  from  the  horizontal  position  in  which 
they  were  formed  under  water.  The  same  is  the  case,  to 
some  extent,  in  America,  where  the  modern  deposits  are 
on  a  large  scale  compared  with  any  we  have.  The 
interior  of  Africa,  and  perhaps  much  of  the  interior  of 
Australia,  will  be  found  marked  with  another  peculiarity : 
— -they  are  extensive  areas  covered^with  similar  and  little- 
altered  rocks. 

On  the  other  hand,  in  the  great  chain  of  the  Alps, 
which  runs  like  a  broad  lofty  wall  across  the  middle  of 
Europe,  the  appearances  of  the  various  rocks  are  in  the 


THE    DISTURBANCE    OF   ROCKS.  189 

highest  degree  complicated  and  difficult  to  unravel  and 
explain.  Not  only  are  the  rocks  tilted,  but  they  are  en- 
tirely altered.  Limestones  and  chalk  are  converted  into 
marble,  and  all  mark  of  the  method  of  formation  entirely 
lost;  sandstones  are  changed  into  compact  rocks  of 
quartz,  abounding  with  large  groups  of  crystal  and  many 
varieties  of  minerals,  which  owe  their  origin  to  very  base 
and  common  materials,  but  which  are  now  so  brilliant 
and  rich  as  to  be  sought  for  as  stones  of  great  value. 

So,  again,  the  clays  are  turned  into  slates,  and  altered 
as  much  in  position  as  in  appearance.  On  the  flanks  of 
these  mountains  the  beds  are  greatly  tilted,  particularly 
on  one  side;  while  on  the  other  side  there  has  been  ab- 
rupt fracture,  and  the  rocks,  broken  short  off,  have  been 
lifted  up  high  in  the  air,  till  they  now  rest  against  others 
whose  date  of  formation  was  far  more  recent.  There 
is  no  amount  or  variety  of  twisting  and  breaking  and 
displacement  which  rocks  in  such  localities  do  not  show; 
and  some  of  the  most  striking  and  noble  appearances 
of  Alpine  scenery  are  due  to  the  fantastic  and  irregular 
lines  into  which  beds  originally  horizontal  have  been 
thrown. 

Vast  gaps  are  not  unfrequently  observable,  the  marks 
of  bedding  on  rocks  of  the  opposite  sides  clearly  corre- 
sponding, though  now  there  is  a  wide  interval  yawning 
between  them.  Jagged  peaks  rise,  and  broken  ridges 
extend  for  long  distances,  all  connected  at  some  ancient 
period,  but  rent  asunder  by  the  vast  force  that  has  ele- 
vated the  mountain-mass  and  lifted  the  continent  out  of 
which  it  rises. 

The   great  mountain-chains  of  the  globe — the  Alps, 


190        PLACEMENT  AND  DISPLACEMENT  OF  STONES. 

continued  from  the  Himalayan  chain,  and  the  Andes — 
each  with  important  links  and  spurs — being  the  loftiest, 
are  the  youngest  of  all.  Others  of  more  ancient  date 
chiefly  affect  older  rocks,  and  their  axes  have  a  different 
direction  from  that  of  the  main  chain  in  the  neighbor- 
hood. There  can  hardly  be  difficulty  in  understanding 
that  the  forces  sufficient  to  upheave  to  the  height  of  tens 
of  thousands  of  feet  these  lines  of  rock,  may  also  have 
lifted  at  the  same  time,  but  to  a  smaller  extent,  wide 
tracts  of  flatter  country.  It  is  beyond  a  doubt  that  the 
lifting-up  of  the  various  continental  masses  of  the  earth 
must  be  regarded  as  due  to,  and  of  the  same  date  as,  the 
production  of  the  great  mountain-chains  that  form,  as  it 
were,  a  backbone  to  the  land.  Thus  the  chain  of  the 
Himalaya  Mountains  in  Asia,  stretching  into  Europe  by 
the  mountains  of  Persia,  Arabia,  and  Turkey,  are  con- 
tinuous with  the  Alps  in  Europe  and  the  Atlas  Moun- 
tains in  Africa.  The  former  chain,  uniting  with  the 
Pyrenees,  reaches  quite  into  the  Atlantic  on  the  north  of 
the  Mediterranean;  while  the  Atlas  Mountains,  stretch- 
ing across  Northern  Africa,  are  also  continued  beyond 
Morocco,  and  are  lost  under  the  same  great  ocean.  In 
America  there  is  but  one  chain,  which  reaches  from  the 
islands  of  Tierra  del  Fuego  in  the  south  quite  into  the 
Arctic  Circle, — the  two  great  portions  of  the  continent 
being  connected  by  the  mountains  and  having  the  same 
direction.  But  there  are  other  directions  in  which  land 
has  been  elevated,  and  these  no  doubt  belong  to  different 
periods  and  different  mountain-systems.  We  must  not 
here  enter  on  difficult  and  disputed  geological  problems; 
but  it  is  safe  to  point  out  the  direction  of  English  rocks 


THE   DISTURBANCE   Ok  tOCKS.  191 

and  their  manifest  relations  to  mountain-chains  ranging 
through  Cornwall,  Wales,  and  Scotland,  as  illustrations  of 
the  fact  we  now  allude  to. 

Very  numerous  and  important  results  may  be  traced, 
in  all  mountainous  districts,  of  the  force  that  has  acted 
to  bring  the  mountains  to  their  position.  The  various 
beds,  once  so  regular  and  clear  in  their  arrangement,  are 
now  confused  and  broken.  The  fracture  that  has  taken 
place  has  often  rendered  it  almost  impossible  to  follow 
the  part  of  a  rock  that  has  undergone  removal  and  con- 
nect this  part  with  the  rest.  Intervals  of  many  yards 
filled  with  rubbish,  broken  away  from  the  rock  or  trans- 
ported from  a  distance,  are  seen  to  exist  between  the 
walls  of  a  crevice.  Rocks  are  apparently  annihilated, 
though  really  they  have  undergone  only  a  removal  or  a 
rearrangement  of  their  particles.  New  rocks  are  created 
out  of  old  materials,  and,  in  a  word,  the  whole  aspect  of 
deposits  is  so  altered  that  it  becomes  impossible  to  iden- 
tify any  one  of  them  by  its  mineral  character,  or  by 
following  it  mechanically  from  one  place  to  another.  All 
that  is  most  picturesque  and  most  pleasing  to  the  eye,  as 
well  as  stimulating  to  the  imagination,  in  mountain- 
scenery,  is  due  to  mixed  mechanical  and  chemical  action 
consequent  on  the  great  change  incurred  in  lifting  the 
rocks  from  the  bottom  of  the  sea  and  placing  the  frac- 
tured edges  in  the  upper  regions  of  the  atmosphere. 

In  speaking  of  the  results  of  such  movements,  geo- 
logists have  become  accustomed  to  employ  a  special 
language.  The  tilt  or  inclination  of  the  beds  they  call 
the  dip;  the  direction  of  the  line  on  which  the  eleva- 
tion has  taken  place  is  the  strike:  and  by  observing 


192      PLACEMENT  AND  DISPLACEMENT  OP  STONES. 

and  recording  the  dip  and  the  strike  they  decide  on 
the  extent  and  direction  of  the  original  disturbing  force 
of  the  beds  presumed  to  act  from  below.  The  fracture, 
when  a  bed  has  been  broken  asunder  during  elevation 
and  a  part  of  it  protruded  above  the  rest,  is  called  a 

fault  or  dike 
(  see  diagram  ) ; 
and  the  ridge 
or  saddle,  from 
which  beds  in- 
cline in  oppo- 
site directions, 
SECTION  ILLUSTRATING  FAULTS.  ^  an  anticlinal 

d.  A  dike.  '  /.  A  fault.  axis(sZQ  p.  195). 

Besides  these,  there  are  some  other  terms  in  common 
use.  Thus,  the  regular  arrangement  of  beds  in  deposits 
parallel  to  each  other  is  conformable  stratification;  and 
when  disturbances  have  acted  after  part  of  a  series  is 
deposited  and  before  the  remaining  part  is  completed, 
so  that  the  upper  series  is  not  parallel  to  the  lower,  we 
have  un conformable  stratification.  It  will  readily  be 
seen  that  these  technical  terms  are  simple  expressions 
of  certain  facts  determined  by  observation,  and  neither 
involve  theory  nor  pretend  to  give  any  reason  for  the 
appearances  they  allude  to. 

It  is  not  unusual  to  find  as  the  central  rock  in  a  moun- 
tain-chain, or  projecting  from  the  flanks  as  a  subordinate 
range,  very  large  quantities  of  that  peculiar  mixed  rock, 
made  up  of  hard  crystals  imbedded  in  a  hard  matrix,  to 
which  the  name  of  granite  is  popularly  applied.  Such 
rock  appears  to  have  been  formed  at  great  depth,  under 


THE   DISTURBANCE   OF   ROCKS.  193 

a  heavy  pressure  of  overlying  earth  or  water,  and  at  a 
temperature  high  compared  with  that  of  the  earth's  sur- 
face, though  not  necessarily  high  compared  with  molten 
rock  such  as  is  poured  out  from  volcanoes.  Great  chemi- 
cal changes  were  needed  to  convert  any  mixture  of  lime- 
stone, sandstone,  or  clay  into  this  material,  although  the 
ultimate  elements  are  not  different;  and  it  is  quite  con- 
sistent with  all  that  we  know  of  the  origin  of  granites 
that  they  should  have  been  produced  far  down  below  the 
earth's  surface,  and  that  a  very  long  time  should  have 
been  occupied  in  preparing  them. 

The  very  great  amount  of  expansion  and  contraction 
that  must  have  taken  place  while  these  rocks  were  in 
preparation  and  when  they  were  afterwards  elevated,  and 
the  pressure  thus  exerted  on  all  adjacent  matter,  will 
account  for  some  of  the  most  singular  and  otherwise  in- 
explicable appearances  presented  by  the  clays  and  lime- 
stones near  them.  In  this  way  the  slates  and  marbles 
grew  out  of  the  simpler  and  more  mechanical  deposits, 
and  while  this  was  being  done  those  numerous  cracks 
and  open  fissures  were  produced,  which,  being  afterwards 
filled  up,  became  mineral  veins.  The  systematic  nature 
of  these  veins  is  due,  no  doubt,  to  the  regularity  of  the 
condition  under  which  the  whole  change  was  effected. 
The  filling  up  with  mineral  wealth  is  a  later  operation, 
and  one  requiring  much  attention  and  study  to  compre- 
hend. 

The  reader  may  see  that,  in  thus  speaking  of  rocks 
originally  placed  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea  and  now  lifted 
up  to  occupy  positions  in  upper  air  so  far  removed  from 
their  origin,  it  has  been  taken  for  granted  that  certain 

IT 


194      PLACEMENT  AND  DISPLACEMENT  OP  STONES. 

movements  have  occurred  upon  the  earth;  and  it  may 
seem  almost  necessary  to  assume  that  these  must  have 
been  on  a  far  grander  scale;  and  therefore  more  destruc- 
tive, than  any  that  living  men  can  either  have  experienced 
or  imagined.  It  may  be  thought  that  catastrophes  are  in- 
dicated involving  the  destruction  of  all  that  was  living 
upon  the  earth  at  the  time, — that  the  whole  world  groaned 
and  was  troubled  at  these  upheavals,  and  that  each  one 
of  them  must  have  involved  a  special  and  manifest  inter- 
position of  the  Creator  who  has  so  wisely  and  so  well 
ordered  terrestrial  affairs. 

I  believe  that  there  is  no  greater  or  more  mischievous 
error  than  this.  I  say  no  greater  error,  because  it 
assumes  the  Law  of  Nature  to  involve  a  system  of  inter- 
ferences,— not  of  adaptations;  and  to  intelligent  human 
beings,  endowed  with  divine  intellect,  interferences,  if  not 
manifestly  called  for  to  answer  a  special  moral  purpose, 
denote  weakness  and  partial  knowledge.  On  the  other 
hand,  a  system  so  contrived  as  to  involve,  in  its  very 
nature,  a  complete  and  continuous  growth  and  adaptation, 
indicates  perfect  foreknowledge  and  wisdom.  I  say, 
also,  no  more  mischievous  error;  for  by  habituating  the 
mind  to  look  for  an  escape  from  all  difficulty  by  mira- 
culous intervention,  the  student  of  Nature  would  not  only 
become  accustomed  to  a  comparatively  low  view  of 
Almighty  Power,  but  would  cease  to  search,  in  the  right 
way  and  the  right  spirit,  for  those  hidden  Laws  of  Nature 
which  can  alone  assist  him  in  comprehending  and  ex- 
pounding the  great  universal  history  which  it  is  the 
province  of  Science  to  lay  open  before  men. 

It  must  never  be  forgotten  that  the  study  of   every 


THE   DISTURBANCE   OF   ROCKS. 


195 


department  of  Science  and  Natural  History — the  effort 
to  acquire  every  knowledge  useful  to  or  attainable  by 
man — is  but  one  of  many  ways  of  exercising  those 
powers  with  which  man  has  been  endowed ;  and  that  the 
due  exercise  and  cultivation  of  all  his  powers,  what- 
ever they  may  be,  is  the  clear  and  obvious  duty  of  every 
human  bein^. 


(tt)  ANTICLINAL  AND  (*)  SYNCLINAL  AXES. 

See  page  192. 


THE  GREAT  STONE  BOOK. 

PART  IV. 


17* 


%  fcfodflfc. 

WHAT   THE   PICTURES   ARE,   AND   WHAT  THEY   MEAN. 

IN  the  last  chapter  we  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that, 
provided  time  enough  were  allowed,  the  changes  in  posi- 
tion that  have  brought  to  the  flanks  and  summits  of  lofty 
mountains  various  beds  of  rock,  formed  originally  at  the 
bottom  of  the  sea,  might  be  well  accounted  for  without 
assuming  violent  and  sudden  disturbances  to  have  taken 
place.  The  disturbances  and  movements  of  land,  whether 
of  elevation  or  depression,  have  indeed  been  so  small  at 
any  one  time  within  human  experience,  that  one's  first 
impression  is  that  they  must  be  insufficient;  and  it  is 
only  by  careful  and  continued  observation  that  we  recog- 
nize them  as  possible.  But  when  we  examine  carefully 
the  rocks  themselves,  and  those  remains  of  animal  and 
vegetable  existence  they  generally  contain,  we  find  time 
as  necessary  here  as  elsewhere. 

When  speaking  of  limestones,  sandstones,  and  clays, 
the  fact  that  the  former  rocks  almost  consist  of,  and  the 
others  generally  contain,  remains  of  living  things,  was 
alluded  to,  and  some  results  stated.  These  remains  were 
once  called  petrifactions,  or  things  turned  into  stone; 
they  are  now  often  called  fossils,  or  things  dug  up;  and, 
considering  that  they  must  necessarily  be  dug  out  of  the 
earth  before  we  can  examine  them,  the  change  of  name 

199 


200  THE   PICTURES    IN    THE    BOOK  I 

does  not  seem  of  much  importance.  At  first  it  may 
appear  strange  that  any  thing  that  has  once  formed  part 
of  a  living  substance  should  be  petrified  or  turned  into 
stone.  Still  more  strange  will  it  seem  if  (as  is  the  case) 
the  details  of  structure  are  preserved  in  the  stone;  so 
that,  without  much  difficulty,  the  most  minute  and  com- 
plicated peculiarities,  whether  of  shell,  bone,  or  wood,  can 
be  examined  under  the  microscope  in  the  fossil  state, 
after  the  conversion  into  stone,  quite  as  well  as  if  recently 
obtained  from  a  living  specimen.  This  is  effected  in  a 
manner  not  very  easy  to  understand,  since  the  original 
substance  must  be  removed,  and  the  new  one  supplied 
particle  by  particle;  and  this  must  have  taken  place  not 
unfrequently  while  lying  on  the  ground,  or  scarcely  buried 
more  than  a  few  feet  in  the  earth.  There  can  be  no 
doubt,  however,  as  to  the  fact;  inasmuch  as  both  wood 
and  coral,  and  occasionally  shells  and  bone,  are  found  in 
the  transition-state,  consisting  partly  of  the  original  and 
partly  of  the  replacing  mineral.  It  is  something  like 
those  curious  metamorphoses  we  read  of  in  the  ancient 
poets;  and  we  occasionally  so  far  penetrate  the  mystery 
of  Nature's  laboratory  as  to  be  able  to  see  the  change 
partly  effected,  if  not  in  actual  progress. 

Organic  Remains  is  another  name  given  to  these  proofs 
of  former  life;  and  it  is  the  most  accurate  term  of  all. 
Whatever  we  choose  to  call  them,  they  are  very  widely 
spread,  occupying  a  part  of  every  rock  originally  formed 
in  water,  though  often  injured  or  almost  obliterated.  Nor 
is  this  very  wonderful.  The  mud  and  gravel  accumu- 
lated at  the  bottom  of  water  is  likely  to  have  retained, 
mixed  up  with  its  particles,  fragments  of  the  shells, 


WHAT   THEY   ARE,   AND   WHAT   THEY    MEAN.      201 

bones,  or  other  animal  substances  accidentally  introduced, 
and  belonging  originally  either  to  the  inhabitants  of  the 
water  or  adjacent  land;  while,  if  these  fragments  should 
happen  to  be  long  rolled  about  with  sand  and  pebbles,  it 
is  equally  clear  that  little  would  remain  to  denote  their 
origin,  or  at  least  little  that  could  be  distinguished  by  the 
unassisted  eye.  Such  remains  of  animals  and  vegetables, 
when  met  with,  may  be  regarded  as  the  Pictures  in  the 
Great  Stone  Book  of  Nature,  illustrating  the  story  told 
in  other  language  in  the  text  of  the  book  itself. 

There  is  hardly  a  river  that  now  enters  a  lake  or  the 
sea, — there  is  not  a  coast-line  in  any  part  of  the  world, — 
and  it  would  seem  that  there  is  hardly  a  spot  buried 
under  tens  of  thousands  of  feet  of  saltwater  between 
England  and  America,  that  has  not,  resting  on,  buried  be- 
neath, or  drifting  along  its  bottom,  a  multitude — "  which 
no  man  can  number" — of  the  shells,  the  encrusted  cases, 
the  external  or  internal  skeletons,  the  teeth,  and  other 
remains  of  animals  living  near.  These  are  the  illustra- 
tions vividly  representing  the  conditions  of  existence. 
Of  the  myriads  of  animals  that  pass  along,  carried  by 
the  water,  the  greater  number  serve  as  food  to  other 
animals  of  larger  proportions,  and  thus  become  imme- 
diately reconverted  into  organic  structure.  Many  more, 
when  dead,  become  the  prey  of  minute  creatures,  which 
soon  reduce  them  to  their  parent  dust,  with  no  trace  left 
of  their  former  existence.  Some  decay  and  fall  to  pieces, 
and  are  thus  altogether  lost;  while  of  the  rest  the  harder 
parts  may  be  buried  under  favorable  conditions.  Of 
these  last  only  it  can  be  that  a  few,  in  the  course  of  time, 
undergo  the  change  which  fits  them  to  serve  as  perma- 


202  THE   PICTURES   IN    THE   BOOK! 

nent  records  of  the  age  in  which  they  flourished.  How 
few  this  is  in  proportion  to  the  whole  number — how 
partial  and  imperfect  is  the  record  of  former  times  thus 
handed  down  to  posterity — may  be  imagined  by  those  who 
will  take  the  trouble  to  search  for  themselves,  in  recent 
formations,  for  evidences  of  the  life  of  the  district.  But 
the  real  poverty  of  the  record  can  hardly  be  thus  appre- 
ciated; because  it  is  quite  impossible  for  us  to  know  how 
much,  or  rather  how  little,  is  preserved  in  the  larger  de- 
posits, owing  to  there  being  no  means  of  looking  forward 
in  time,  and  anticipating  the  amount  and  extent  of  the 
destruction  that  will  follow  the  decay  that  now  goes  on, 
and  that  conceals  the  real  nature  of  organic  substances 
during  their  conversion  into  new  minerals. 

It  is,  indeed,  wonderful  in  the  highest  degree  that,  in 
spite  of  all  causes  of  destruction  and  all  changes  of  ma- 
terial, so  great  a  variety  of  remains  as  those  already  de- 
scribed should  have  been  preserved  and  discovered  by 
geologists.  A  few  centuries  ago,  the  very  existence  of 
fossils  was  hardly  known  as  a  fact  (m  which  an  argument 
could  be  based.  For  a  long  time  the  fact  of  their  having 
really  belonged  to  animals  and  vegetables  was  doubted. 
Afterwards,  many  rocks  were  considered  as  being  quite 
without  fossils  which  now  are  known  to  contain  them  in  in- 
finite abundance;  and  although  each  year  still  adds  to  the 
number  and  variety  of  the  different  species,  and  intro- 
duces us  either  to  new  localities  for  known  species  or 
new  species  from  the  known  localities,  there  are  yet  many 
naturalists  and  geologists  who  are  unable  to  recognize  the 
probability  that  our  knowledge  of  the  subject  is  still 


complete 


WHAT   THEY   ARE,  AND   WHAT   THEY   MEAN.      203 

.C 

very  imperfect,  and  ought  not  to  be  assumed  as 

in  any  department. 

Remembering  what  has  been  said  of  the  resemblance 
of  the  strata  in  the  earth  to  a  heap  of  books  on  a  table, 
we  may  carry  on  the  illustration  a  little  further  in  re- 
ference to  the  subject  of  Fossils.  We  have  called  our 
earth  the  Great  Stone  Book,  the  leaves  of  the  book  being 
represented  by  the  various  strata  or  beds  of  stone.  We 
might,  indeed,  for  some  reasons,  have  called  it  the  Stone 
Library;  but  it  is  a  library  in  great  confusion;  for  the 
books,  which  in  this  illustration  represent  the  beds,  are 
piled  irregularly  on  the  floor.  Each  book  tells  its  own 
story,  and  describes  a  history  in  some  measure  independ- 
ent. It  is  true  that  many  stories  are  too  long  to  be  told 
in  a  single  volume,  and  require  a  complete  series;  and 
we  must  further  assume  that  the  Stone  Books  have  been 
accumulated  on  the  floor  of  the  World-Library  as  they 
have  been  thrown  off  from  the  press.  If  the  original 
order  of  precedence  has  been  disturbed,  it  is  by  some 
accident  from  without,  and  very  rarely  indeed  have  any 
been  shuffled  in  between  others  previously  placed.  In 
this  sense,  the  fossils  are  the  literary  contents  of  the  book. 
Some  are  very  distinct,  and  mark  an  important  epoch; 
some  are  very  commonplace,  and  record  facts  which  may 
have  happened  at  any  time.  Many  are  so  obscure  in  the 
language  and  dialect  in  which  they  were  written,  or  so 
injured  by  time  and  damp,  that  they  are  hardly  legible. 
Some  are  in  black-letter, — some  in  bold,  large  type ;  some 
are  very  minute,  requiring  assistance  to  read  them.  A 
vast  number  of  the  series  are  absent,  not  perhaps  alto- 
gether, but,  at  any  rate,  in  the  parts  of  the  library  we 


204  THE    PICTURES    IN    THE    BOOK: 

are  allowed  to  examine;  for  we  may  assist  the  compari- 
son by  supposing  that  we  are  only  able  to  reach  the  sur- 
face of  the  books,  after  removing  an  accumulated  dust 
and  rubbish  like  that  which  has  buried  the  ancient  city 
of  Pompeii. 

This  illustration  by  no  means  exaggerates  the  diffi- 
culties that  have  to  be  overcome  in  endeavoring  to  obtain 
a  knowledge  of  the  ancient  natural  history  of  the  world 
by  a  careful  examination  of  the  fossils.  A  large  mass  of 
evidence  exists-,  but  it  is  often,  and  indeed  generally, 
abundant  only  in  reference  to  particular  deposits,  or  cer- 
tain kinds  of  animals  and  vegetables, — never  complete, 
even  for  a  single  period. 

It  is  very  important  that  the  imperfection  of  the  series 
of  rocks  and  fossils  should  be  clearly  understood;  for 
without  it  the  real  value  of  this  kind  of  evidence  can- 
not be  estimated.  As  far  as  it  goes,  it  is  sound  and 
thoroughly  to  be  depended  on;  for  if  the  books  that 
form  the  collection  were  thrown  into  the  library  as  they 
successively  got  ready,  the  general  sequence  must  be 
perfect.  In  other  words,  a  book  at  the  bottom  or  in  the 
middle  must  belong  to  an  earlier  date  than  a  book  at  the 
top.  But,  just  as  the  work  of  printing  may  have  gone 
on  more  rapidly  in  one  country  or  at  one  period  than  at 
another,  while  sometimes,  owing  to  revolutions  or  dis- 
turbances, an  interval  may  have  elapsed  when  literature 
was  dormant,  so  we  find  among  the  fossils  that  the  con- 
ditions under  which  they  were  accumulated  were  some- 
times favorable  and  sometimes  the  contrary.  Sometimes 
the  accumulation  was  rapid  for  a  time  in  one  country, 
and  altogether  stopped  in  another;  sometimes  long  in- 


WHAT   THEY   ARE,  AND    WHAT   THEY    MEAN.      205 

tervals  would  take  place,  when  Nature  seems  to  have 
been  idle  over  a  large  area;  and  not  unfrequently  ac- 
cumulations of  enormous  extent  and  thickness  belong  to 
one  not  very  long  period- 

Without  tiring  the  reader  with  further  continuance  of 
this  comparison,  let  us  now  consider  what  kind  of  re- 
mains of  animals  and  vegetables  are  found  fossil,  and 
how  far  they  characterize  particular  periods  or  deposits. 

Beginning  with  the  most  simple  forms  of  life,  we  find 
the  vegetable  and  animal  so  nearly  alike  that  it  is  scarcely 
possible  to  decide  clearly  the  real  difference  that  sepa- 
rates them.  Each  is  a  single  cell  or  small  closed  bag, 
often  coated  or  defended  with  flint  or  limestone.  Every 
part  may  absorb,  separate,  grow,  divide,  and  decay, — all 
with  extreme  rapidity;  and  each  new  offspring  generally 
retains  at  first  some  sort  of  connection  with  the  original 
parent.  Often  we  find  a  compound  animal  or  vegetable 
made  up  of  tens  of  thousands  of  the  simple  individual, 
and  possessing  a  kind  of  independent  existence.  The 
whole  solid  structure  produced  by  the  compound  being 
may,  however,  be  so  minute  as  to  require  a  microscope  to 
see  it;  and  millions  of  such  specimens  of  existence  make 
up  a  bed  of  mud  such  as  is  found  at  the  bottom  of  deep 
water  in  the  Atlantic  and  in  other  oceans. 

It  may  be  supposed  that  such  mud,  some  of  which  is 
flinty  and  some  calcareous,  will  remain  unaltered,  except 
indeed  by  hardening  and  drying,  for  a  very  long  time. 
Some  of  it,  perhaps,  is  as  old  as  any  thing  that  has  been 
made  by  living  beings  in  the  whole  earth.  And  such 
kinds  of  life  vary  wonderfully  little,  whether  found  in 
deep  or  in  shallow  water, — whether  existing  in  hot  water 

18 


206  THE    PICTURES   IN    THE   BOOK  I 

at  or  near  the  Equator,  or  in  freezing  water  in  the  Arctic 
or  Antarctic  Circles.  They  serve  as  indications  of  the 
fact  that  "there  was  life:" — the  command  of  the  Al- 
mighty had  gone  forth,  and  had  been  obeyed.  Such  life, 
however,  being  in  itself  the  simplest,  can  hardly  exhibit 
change,  and  is  repeated  from  generation  to  generation 
as  Time  advances  towards  Eternity.  Such  life  existed 
at  the  beginning,  and  the  exact  analogue  exists  now. 

Sponges  are  familiar,  because  often  they  are  large- 
sized  representatives  of  this  great  class  of  beings  whose 
existence  is  almost  as  much  vegetable  as  it  is  animal,  in- 
asmuch as  the  characteristic  and  essential  peculiarities  of 
animals  and  vegetables  have  not  yet  appeared  in  their 
structure  and  habits.  Sponges  are  found  fossil  in  a  great 
variety  of  rocks, — some  with  a  kind  of  simple  skeleton 
of  limestone,  others  with  flint,  and  some  merely  horny, 
without  much  mineral.  Certain  forms  of  sponge  belong 
apparently  to  one  period  or  one  set  of  strata  rather  than 
to  another,  but  they  can  rarely  be  regarded  as  distinctive. 

Remains  of  trees  abound  in  coal,  and  in  the  sandstones 
and  half-slaty  beds  among  which  coal  is  found.  Not 
only  the  trunks  but  the  leaves,  and  in  some  rare  cases  the 
fruits  and  flowers,  are  well  preserved;  but  they  are  almost 
always  insufficient  to  give  such  an  idea  of  the  plant  that 
it  can  be  identified.  One  remarkable  fact,  however,  is 
clearly  made  out  by  these  discoveries, — namely,  that 
plants  and  trees  allied  to  ferns,  not  only  small  but  of  the 
very  largest  dimensions,  were  extremely  common,  and 
contributed  more  than  any  other  kind  of  vegetation  to 
the  formation  of  coal,  and  to  supply  the  more  common 
fossils  of  the  coal  measures. 


WHAT   THEY   ARE,  AND    WHAT   THEY    MEAN.      207 

Of  animals,  almost  all  kinds  have  left  some  indication 
of  their  existence,  but  chiefly,  as  might  be  expected, 
those  provided  with  hard  and  indestructible  parts.  Thus, 
corals,  both  the  more  delicate  horny  varieties  and  the 
hard-plated  kinds  such  as  build  reefs,  are  very  common, — 
indeed,  among  the  most  common  of  all  fossils.  Nor  is 
this  wonderful.  The  animal  that  separates  the  coral 
from  sea-water,  and  builds  up  a  living  wall  against  which 
the  waves  can  make  no  impression, — a  wall  extending  for 
thousands  of  miles,  rising  to  the  water's  edge  from  a 
depth  of  a  thousand  feet, — has  been  in  many  cases  assisted 
by  Nature  in  a  wonderful  manner  in  producing  an  abid- 
ing monument.  There  are  many  parts  of  the  Pacific  in 
which  such  works  are  being  constructed,  and  there  are 
others  in  which,  having  been  built,  they  are  being  pre- 
served from  destruction.  A  reference  to  almost  any 
limestone  or  clay  rock  will  show  their  presence  in  some 
form  or  other,  and  thus,  being  among  the  things  easily 
and  well  preserved  now,  and  found  in  most  rocks  what- 
ever their  age  may  be,  they  are  doubly  useful;  for  they 
not  only  afford  opportunities  of  comparing  the  varieties 
common  at  different  periods,  as  marked  by  rocks  higher 
or  lower  in  the  series,  but  they  enable  us  to  obtain  a 
continued  series  or  chain  of  forms,  and  thus  to  learn  that 
at  all  times  similar  causes  seem  to  have  produced  like 
results.  It  is  also  extremely  convenient,  as  well  as  a 
striking  proof  of  the  vast  changes  that  have  come  over 
this  part  of  the  world,  that  we  are  thus  able  to  study  the 
structure  of  coral-banks  in  the  lofty  limestone-cliffs  of 
Cheddar  and  in  the  wave-worn  shores  of  Lough  Earne, 
as  well  as  in  the  upheaved  coral-islands  of  the  Southern 


208  THE    PICTURES    IN    THE    BOOK: 

Sea,1?.  In  the  fields  about  Steeple  Ashton,  every  stone 
turned  up  by  the  plough  is  a  coral;  and  our  inland  quar- 
ries and  chalk-pits  afford  materials  for  the  study  of  a  class 
of  animals  almost  wholly  wanting  on  the  present  shores 
of  Europe. 

A  marked  peculiarity  of  structure  has  been  noticed  in 
the  corals  found  in  the  lowest  deposits,  most  of  these 
having  their  small  cups  or  stars  in  rays  numbering  four, 
eight,  or  twelve  (or  other  multiples  of  four),  while  the 
more  modern  kinds  are  in  groups  of  six.  It  has  not  been 
found  possible  at  present  to  suggest  a  reason  for  this; 
but  so  it  is.  It  is  one  of  the  differences  produced  in  the 
course  of  time,  having  reference,  perhaps,  to  some  cause 
of  which  other  indication  is  lost.  It  is  one  of  many 
similar  differences  unaccounted  for  and  apparently  arbi- 
trary, but  not  the  less  real,  and  often  of  great  value  as 
guides  in  comparing  and  identifying  the  contents  of  dif- 
ferent rocks. 

Star-fishes  and  sea-urchins  are  members  of  a  family  of 
stone-plated  animals,  having  structure  and  habits  exceed- 
ingly curious,  but  still  having  more  or  less  of  that  com- 
pound life  that  is  so  remarkable  in  the  coral  animal  as 
well  as  in  many  small  inhabitants  of  the  deep. 

The  stony  parts  of  these  animals  are  as  widely  spread 
and  as  common  in  all  rocks  as  the  corals;  but  they 
never  form  such  large  masses,  and  indeed  are  very  seldom 
accumulated  in  heaps, — being  rather  distributed  through 
the  deposit,  and  mixed  up  with  other  fossils.  When 
complete,  nothing  can  be  more  exquisitely  beautiful  or 
ingenious  in  their  arrangement  and  fitting  than  the 
myriads  of  little  stones  that  build  up  stars,  lily-shaped 


WHAT  THEY  ARE,  AND  WHAT  THEY  MEAN.        209 

cups  growing  from  long  stems,  grotesque  round  boxes 
covered  with  warty  projections,  strange  sweeping  net- 
like  branches,  serpent-like  forms  radiating  from  a  central 
point,  and  a  hundred  indescribable  shapes  assumed  by 
these  fossils.  They  are  most  of  them  represented  by 
species  not  very  uncommon  in  various  seas.  The  serpent- 
like  stars  (Ophiuridse)  have  been  dredged  up  alive,  in 
mid- Atlantic,  from  more  than  a  thousand  feet  of  water : 
the  star-fishes  and  sea-urchins  are  common  enough  on 
our  own  shores  as  well  as  elsewhere.  We  know  their 
curious  habits,  feeding  for  the  most  part  on  offal,  moving 
in  some  strange  way  by  a  thousand  little  suckers, — their 
stone  jackets  pierced  with  minute  pores,  through  which 
the  animal  imprisoned  communicates  with  the  outer 
world.  We  know  also  the  risk  they  are  subject  to,  and 
the  shelter  they  generally  obtain  by  concealing  themselves 
under  stones  or  in  mud;  and  we  recognize  their  peculiar 
habits,  and  the  half-compound  nature  of  their  life,  when 
we  see  them  jerk  off  important  portions  of  the  body  if 
interfered  with,  or  fall  to  pieces  (some  of  them,  at  least) 
when  thrown  suddenly  into  water.  All  these  habits 
also  belonged  to  similar  animals  whose  remains  are  found 
fossil;  and  the  abundance  of  the  fragments,  compared 
with  the  comparative  scarcity  of  the  complete  shell,  is 
proof  that  the  old  habits  were  identical  with  the  modern 
ones. 

Multitudes  of  peculiar  forms  of  these  curious  animals 
are  found  fossil,  some  totally  different  from,  others  very 
nearly  resembling,  those  now  found  and  belonging  to 
living  animals.  Now  that  we  know  them  to  be  able  to 
live  in  very  deep  water,  we  may  account  for  their  wide 

18* 


210  THE   PICTURES    IN    THE    BOOK  : 

occurrence  in  most  rocks.  The  oldest  rocks  contain  the 
least  familiar  forms. 

It  is  a  curious  thing  to  notice  the  division  into  five 
parts  of  most  of  these  animals  found  living,  and  to  find 
that  in  many  of  those  whose  remains  are  in  the  lower 
deposits  this  tendency  is  not  so  evident. 

Worms  and  such-like  animals  would  naturally  be  rare 
in  a  fossil  state,  as  being  seldom  provided  with  any  solid 
framework.  Still  there  are  indications,  even  of  the  soft 
kinds,  preserved  permanently  in  numerous  worm-tracks 
that  were  left  on  the  muddy  shores  of  ancient  seas.  It  is 
also  a  habit  with  many  of  these  creatures  to  coat  them- 
selves with  sand  or  little  pebbles  for  protection;  and  as 
the  cases  thus  made  do  not  die  with  the  animal,  if  not 
exposed  to  violence  they  will  remain  buried  in  the  mud. 
Such  worm-cases  have  been  met  with  in  some  rocks,  and 
a  kind  of  natural  armor  with  which  a  few  of  the  same 
class  of  animals  is  provided  also  remains  without  change. 
The  tubes  which  such  animals  have  bored  are  also  some- 
times recognizable. 

Insects,  though  they  have  horny  cases,  are  not  likely 
to  be  much  mixed  up  with  river-mud ;  still  less  can  they 
be  carried  out  to  sea  in  large  quantities  and  buried  in 
deposits  at  the  bottom  of  deep  water.  No  wonder,  then, 
that  it  is  a  rare  event  to  discover  such  creatures.  Buried 
occasionally  by  some  accident,  and  caught  up  from  time 
to  time  in  the  resinous  fluids  oozing  out  of  trees  and  hard- 
ening in  the  air,  there  is  a  possibility  that  a  few  might  be 
found ;  and  perhaps,  on  the  whole,  the  number  actually 
discovered  is  more  rather  than  less  than  could  have  been 
expected. 


WHAT   THEY   ARE,  AND   WHAT   THEY   MEAN.     211 

On  the  other  hand,  crabs  and  lobsters  and  other 
marine  animals,  coated  in  a  thick  shell  of  limestone, 
which  they  from  time  to  time  throw  off,  are  much  more 
likely  to  be  common.  Under  favorable  circumstances, 
very  considerable  numbers  of  them  have  been  met  with, 
and  they  fully  justify  the  expectation.  Such  animals 
are  common  on  rocky  shores,  where  there  are  occasional 
beds  of  mud  and  sand  in  holes,  and  they  are  not  found  on 
all  shores.  Neither  are  their  remains  in  all  rocks ;  but 
enough  have  been  detected  in  the  older  as  well  as  newer 
rocks  to  render  it  certain  that  the  old  seas  and  shores 
resembled  the  modern  in  the  existence  of  creatures  of 
this  kind. 

There  are  some  shells  belonging  to  very  minute  crus- 
taceans (as  this  group  of  animals  is  called)  that  would 
hardly  be  recognized  as  of  the  same  family  as  crabs  ex- 
cept by  the  naturalist.  Some  of  these  are  exceedingly 
small  and  simple,  resembling  in  shape  the  pod  of  a  bean, 
and  the  two  shells  together  not  unlike  a  bean,  but  smaller 
than  a  small  pin's  head.  Myriads  of  such  little  shells 
are  found  in  certain  clays,  and  they  even  help  to  build 
up  some  clays  and  limestones.  Some  of  them  mark  the 
presence  of  fresh  water,  or,  at  least,  seem  to  show  that 
where  they  were  accumulated  fresh  and  salt  water  were 
mixed, — or,  in  other  words,  that  the  bed  of  clay  or  lime- 
stone in  which  they  are  found  was  deposited  near  the 
mouth  of  a  large  river.  Such  conclusions  may  be  the 
more  depended  on  when  other  remains  of  animals  also 
indicate  the  presence  of  land  not  far  off,  and  when  frag- 
ments of  the  vegetable  kingdom  are  well  preserved. 

In  some  beds  near  the  bottom  of  the  series  are  found 


212  THE   PICTURES   IN    THE    BOOK  : 

crustacean  shells  of  the  most  curious  form  (Trilobites), 
belonging  to  kinds  not  now  known  in  a  living  state. 
These  are  also  exceedingly  abundant,  and  with  them  are 
fragments  of  a  kind  of  lobster,  that  must  have  attained 
a  length  of  as  much  as  seven  feet. 

In  all  seas  there  are  found  some  specimens  of  a 
curious  kind  of  bivalve  tough  shell,  pierced  through  the 
extremity  of  one  valve  with  a  hole,  through  which  is  a 
bundle  of  silky  fibres  attaching  the  animal  to  the  rock. 
The  modern  kinds  are  called  lamp-shells,  and  within  the 
shell  there  is,  generally,  a  delicate  loop  or  screw  of  stone. 
Most  of  those  now  obtained  are  from  rocky  bottoms  and 
in  deepish  water ;  and,  though  found  in  almost  all  seas, 
they  are  nowhere  very  common.  Of  such  shells  there  are 
specimens  in  almost  all  rocks,  showing  extreme  differences 
of  form  and  many  singular  peculiarities  of  structure. 
There  is  hardly  a  single  group  of  deposits  that  we  can 
examine,  from  the  lowest  to  the  most  recently  formed, 
that  has  not  some  of  them.  There  are  specimens  of  all 
dimensions : — some  covered  with  long  spines,  some  per- 
fectly smooth;  some  thin,  others  enormously  thick  and 
heavy;  some  quite  simple,  others  extremely  complicated; 
and  many  of  these,  that  have  been  buried  for  ages,  could 
with  difficulty  be  distinguished  from  shells  taken  from  a 
living  animal. 

While  there  is  this  vast  variety  and  abundance  of  the 
lamp-shells,  now  very  rare,  there  are  also  many  deposits 
of  limestone  almost  made  up  of  other  shells.  More  than 
a  third  part  of  all  known  fossils  are  bivalve  shells,  and 
another  third  univalves,  leaving  only  the  remaining  third 
for  all  other  species  of  animals.  There  is,  however,  a 


WHAT    THEY    ARE,    AND    WHAT   THEY    MEAN.      213 

curious  difference  with  regard  to  them.  Of  the  species 
of  bivalves,  or  double  shells,  such  as  the  oyster  and 
cockle,  whose  habitations  consist  of  two  shelly  or  strong 
cases  enclosing  the  animal,  there  are  twice  as  many  varie- 
ties found  in  rocks  as  are  now  found  in  the  sea;  while 
of  the  univalves  or  single  shells,  such  as  the  snail,  the 
whelk,  and  others,  there  are  one-third  more  from  the 
modern  sea-shore  than  from  all  rocks. 

The  variety  as  well  as  the  absolute  number  of  indi- 
viduals in  the  remains  of  these  animals  is  exceedingly 
great;  nor  need  this  be  a  matter  of  surprise,  when  it 
is  considered  how  easily  they  form  part  of  any  deposit 
rapidly  brought  together,  and  how  slowly  they  decay  and 
alter  if  not  at  once  crushed.  Formed  of  limestone,  they 
are  sufficiently  liable  to  injury  to  be  quickly  broken  when 
rolled  about  on  a  sea-shore,  though  even  under  such  cir- 
cumstances the  number  of  fragments  could  not  fail  to  be 
very  manifest;  but  once  buried,  they  are  hardly  exposed 
to  other  danger.  For  a  long  time  they  retain  their  color, 
— for  a  much  longer  time  all  those  distinctive  marks  by 
which  shells  are  recognized  and  known  one  from  another; 
and  even  when,  as  sometimes  happens,  they  are  turned 
into  crystal,  whether  of  limestone  or  flint,  they  still  retain 
their  exact  shapes,  and  can  often  be  known  as  well  as  if 
they  had  undergone  no  change. 

Very  beautiful  and  very  curious  are  the  shells  that  are 
found  in  various  rocks.  Those  from  the  chalk  differ  ex- 
ceedingly from  those  we  are  familiar  with  on  our  own  or 
other  shores ;  those  from  the  limestone  below  the  chalk 
differ  from  the  chalk  varieties ;  and  those  from  limestones 
lower  still  in  the  series  are  again  quite  different.  Shells 


214  THE   PICTURES    IN   THE    BOOK  : 

found  in  deposits  of  clay  differ  greatly  from  those  found  in 
limestones,  and  singular  changes  of  appearance  are  observ- 
able even  in  very  similar  deposits,  provided  specimens  are 
taken  in  different  parts  of  a  great  series.  Among  modern 
shells  the  nautilus  is  one  of  the  most  curious;  and  as  the 
animal  that  constructs  it  much  resembles  the  common 
cuttle-fish, — whose  skeleton,  or  bone  (as  it  is  called),  is 
constantly  found  washed  up  by  the  waves  on  a  sandy 
shore, — there  is  a  good  deal  of  interest  in  all  that  relates 
to  it.  Rare  as  the  nautilus  now  is,  and  confined  to  the 
Southern  hemisphere  (the  Argonaut  of  the  Mediterra- 
nean being  a  different  animal),  it  is  remarkable  that  there 
should  exist  in  England  numerous  beds  containing  mil- 
lions of  shells  having  similar  structure,  and  certainly  once 
belonging  to  creatures  of  similar  habits.  These  almost 
build  up  some  of  the  limestones,  and  are  also  found  in 
some  of  the  clays.  Together  with  the  lamp-shells  (the 
Terebrattda  is  a  familiar  group),  the  Ammonites  (twisted 
shells  divided  into  many  chambers)  make  up  a  large  pro- 
portion of  the  whole  number  of  fossil  shells. 

Remains  of  fishes,  often  very  small  and  not  readily  dis- 
tinguished, but  sufficiently  determined  to  leave  no  doubt 
as  to  their  true  nature,  are  found,  as  might  be  expected, 
in  deposits  from  water.  Not  only  teeth  and  occasional 
bones,  but  scales,  are  easily  preserved;  and  it  seems  that 
the  scales  are  the  parts  by  which  the  nature  of  some  fish 
is  best  known.  Sharks  very  often  have  spines  stick- 
ing from  the  back,  to  which  fins  are  attached;  and  such 
spines,  being  excessively  hard  and  indestructible,  are 
among  the  parts  of  fish  found  in  the  oldest  rocks.  The 
skin  of  sharks  is  likewise  very  durable.  From  those  that 


WHAT   THEY    ARE,    AND    WHAT    THEY    MEAN.     215 

live  now  we  obtain  shagreen,  and  small  bits  of  similar 
substances  are  buried  in  many  rocks.  Some  kinds  of 
fishes,  very  rare  now  and  known  to  inhabit  only  a  few 
rivers  and  lakes,  are  enclosed  in  a  kind  of  box  of  bone, 
and  coated  with  the  hardest  enamel.  Complete  or  partial 
coats  of  mail,  evidently  belonging  to  similar  fishes,  have 
been  obtained  among  fossils  for  comparison  with  them. 
The  teeth  of  some  fishes  are  like  pavements,  excessively 
hard,  flat,  and  all  connected  together-  other  fishes  have 
numerous  rows  of  sharp  hooks,  others  teeth  like  brushes, 
and  others  delicate  teeth  like  the  finest  needles.  Speci- 
mens of  all  kinds  are  found  in  the  earth  in  beds  of  all 
ages;  but  the  scaled  fishes  we  are  now  most  familiar  with 
must  either  have  been  rare  in  former  times,  or  the  others 
must  have  been  much  more  favorably  placed  for  being 
kept  buried  in  rocks  for  many  ages. 

Of  all  land-animals,  certain  reptiles  are  those  which 
have  the  most  chance  of  their  remains  being  preserved. 
Wrapped  up  in  a  bony  coat,  which  prevents  injury  while 
alive,  the  whole  framework  of  the  creature  holds  toge- 
ther long  after  death;  and  as  the  reptiles  thus  armed 
live  chiefly  near  water,  and  are  often  buried  in  deep  mud 
for  a  long  time  during  dry  weather,  they  must  constantly 
be  exposed  to  be  covered  up  permanently  and  retained 
in  deposits  under  course  of  formation.  The  scales,  teeth, 
and  bones  of  such  reptiles  (crocodiles,  alligators,  &c.)  are 
naturally  to  be  expected,  therefore;  but  no  one  could  be 
prepared  to  expect  the  singular  richness  of  many  masses 
of  clay  and  limestone  in  such  fossils,  for  we  know  of 
nothing  in  existing  creation  that  could  afford  a  standard 
of  comparison.  Not  only  remains  of  common  kinds,  but 


216  THE   PICTURES   IN    THE   BOOK: 

numerous  complete  skeletons  of  others  not  now  known, 
point  to  the  fact  that  such  animals  were  once  plentiful 
and  lived  in  multitudes  in  these  latitudes. 

Serpents  and  frogs  are,  of  course,  much  less  liable  to  be 
retained,  even  if  buried  in  water  and  mud.  A  few  of 
them  have  been  found,  but  they  are  rarities. 

Birds  would  seem  hardly  more  likely  to  be  buried  in 
mud  than  land-animals;  but  as  some  of  them  make  the 
sea  their  chief  resort,  and  many  others  inhabit  land  close 
to  water,  it  is  not  surprising  that  a  few  remains  of  them 
are  from  time  to  time  discovered.  Still,  the  bones  of 
these  creatures  that  have  been  obtained  from  the  different 
rocks,  except  those  of  the  very  latest  date,  are,  with  one 
or  two  rare  exceptions,  few  and  not  very  instructive. 

Mammalia,  with  the  exception  of  whales  and  dugongs 
and  such  marine  monsters,  can  only  live  on  land,  and 
most  of  them  seem  to  require  considerable  tracts  of  land. 
Islands  even  of  large  size  are  often  almost  without  such 
animals  at  the  present  time,  and  this  must  always  have 
been  the  case  in  the  world's  history.  And  although 
large  tracts  of  land  may  always  have  had  numerous 
quadrupeds,  and  have  been  crossed  and  drained  by  rivers, 
which  carry  down  rnud  in  large  quantities  to  the  sea,  and 
with  the  mud  remains  of  all  that  dwelt  on  the  river- 
banks,  there  are  so  many  chances  of  accident  to  these 
that  they  can  only  rarely  have  been  preserved.  Even 
when  they  reach  the  sea  it  will  be  found  that,  before 
being  in  a  state  fit  for  handing  down  to  future  times, 
they  have  for  the  most  part  suffered  so  much  from  de- 
composition, and  from  rubbing  about  among  stones  and 
against  each  other,  as  to  be  hardly  recognized.  Thus 


THEY   ARE,    AND   WHAT   THEY   MEAN.     217 

there  is  no  likelihood  of  large  quantities  of  such  remains 
being  found  under  any  circumstances,  and  their  total 
absence  might  indicate  much  rather  the  absence  of  large 
continents  than  the  absence  of  all  land.  It  is  quite  pos- 
sible that  there  might  be  large  deposits  going  on,  in 
which  remains  of  shells  and  corals  should  be  very  com- 
mon and  remains  of  fish  and  reptiles  by  no  means  rare, 
but  in  which  were  no  remains  of  laud-animals.  Such 
deposits  might  even  be  greatly  influenced  by  the  vicinity 
of  a  large  group  of  moderate- sized  islands,  and  yet,  until 
man  should  visit  these  islands,  no  quadruped  larger  than 
a  rat  might  exist  in  them.  Such  would  be  the  case  now 
in  some  of  the  islands  of  the  Pacific  on  a  small  scale, 
and  may  have  happened  elsewhere  on  a  larger  scale.  We 
must  not  conclude  that,  because  no  bones  of  quadrupeds 
or  birds  were  buried  with  the  reptiles  and  fishes,  or  with 
innumerable  shells  and  corals,  there  were  no  birds  or 
quadrupeds  near;  still  less  are  we  justified  in  saying  that 
there  were  none  anywhere  at  the  date  of  the  deposit. 

From  this  account  it  will  be  seen  that,  whatever  there 
is  living  upon  the  earth,  in  the  air,  or  in  the  water, 
indications  of  such  life  may  be  met  with  buried  in  the 
mud  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  or  built  up  with  the  lime 
stones  and  other  rocks,  as  illustrations  of  the  state  of  life 
when  such  rocks  were  formed.  We  also  see  that  very 
imperfect  knowledge  would  be  obtained  from  these  ac- 
cumulations as  to  the  relative  abundance  or  importance 
of  the  animals.  The  point  really  decided  is,  which  ot 
them  have  been  best  able  to  resist  the  causes  of  decay 
and  destruction,  and  which  were  most  conveniently  at 
hand  to  be  caught  up  in  the  deposit. 
19 


Chapter  ilje  $ {j 

ANCIENT    FORESTS   AN3>   MODERN    FUEL. 

ANY  one  travelling  a  few  hundred  miles  through  Eng- 
land, on  one  of  our  great  lines  of  railway,  north  or  west 
of  London,  can  hardly  fail  to  be  reminded  of  the  magni- 
tude and  importance  of  the  coal  interests,  some  part  or 
other  of  which  he  must  traverse.  Somersetshire,  South 
Wales,  Warwickshire,  Staffordshire,  Lancashire,  York- 
shire, Durham,  and  Northumberland,  exhibit  portions  of 
a  vast  chain  of  mineral  fuel,  of  which  the  under-ground 
links  reach  from  the  fertile  valleys  of  the  west  to  the 
storm-beaten  shores  of  the  northeast  of  England;  and 
if  the  journey  is  farther  extended,  Scotland  will  be 
found  to  comprise  a  second  and  outer  line  equally  mani- 
fest, and  in  its  way  not  less  valuable. 

Through  this  wide  extent  of  British  lands,  it  is  true 
that  coal  is  rarely  seen  at  the  surface,  except  when 
brought  there  by  the  active  industry  of  man.  From 
various  depths,  varying  from  a  few  yards  to  a  third  of  a 
mile, — up  pits  and  shafts,  sometimes  simple  enough  in 
their  structure,  sometimes  exceedingly  elaborate  and 
costly,  but  almost  always  lifted  by  the  aid  of  steam- 
power, — the  coal  is  brought  to  the  surface,  and,  when 
there,  is  distributed  and  conveyed  to  its  destination. 
The  thousands  of  men  and  boys,  the  numerous  horses 
218 


ANCIENT   FORESTS   AND    MODERN   FUEL.  219 

employed,  and  much  of  the  machinery, — all  these  are 
out  of  sight,  and  we  see  only  the  result;  our  eyes  are, 
perhaps,  offended  with  the  interruption  and  injury  to 
fine  scenery  by  the  unpicturesque  surface  works  and 
heaps,  or  we  are  annoyed  by  the  smoke  vomited  forth 
from  the  chimneys  of  the  numerous  steam-engines;  and 
we  throw  ourselves  back  in  the  railway-carriage,  indif- 
ferent and  wearied,  caring  nothing  and  thinking  nothing 
of  those  vast  mines  of  wealth  we  are  passing  over,  com- 
pared with  which,  the  gold  of  California  and  Australia, 
and  the  diamonds  of  Grolconda,  may  be  regarded  as  un- 
important. 

Or  should  we  pause,  and  endeavor  to  make  ourselves 
familiar  with  coal  as  it  exists  in  the  earth,  and  compare 
its  appearance  there  with  its  aspect  on  our  fires  or  in  our 
cellars,  the  effort,  which  is  one  involving  no  trifling 
amount  of  fatigue  to  those  not  accustomed  to  under- 
ground travelling,  might  result  in  a  notion  more  confused 
than  useful;  and  if  we  had  previously  any  book-know- 
ledge of  the  subject,  we  should,  perhaps,  come  away  with 
the  conviction  that  written  and  published  descriptions  of 
such  matters  were  far  more  interesting  than  the  reality. 

A  visit  to  a  coal-mine  is  not,  however,  without  mean- 
ing, especially  to  any  one  who  has  some  little  idea  of 
mining  operations.  The  descent  through  hot  air,  foggy 
with  floating  particles  of  coal,  the  darkness  and  gloom 
but  very  imperfectly  revealed  by  candles  or  lamps,  the 
crowd  of  trucks,  horses,  and  men  at  the  bottom,  and  the 
incessant  clanking  of  the  machinery, — all  these  prepare 
the  visitor  for  his  work.  Once  landed  below,  he  is  led 
past  vast  furnaces,  burning  day  and  night  to  create  a 


220  THE   PICTURES   IN    THE   BOOK. 

draught  of  air,  on  which  the  very  life  of  all  those  em- 
ployed under  ground  depends;  he  is  told  that  air  close 
to  him,  passing  into  the  chimney  a  little  above  his 
head  over  these  fires,  is  highly  explosive,  so  that  a  spark 
entering  it  would  involve  destruction ;  he  is  introduced 
first  through  broad  and  then  into  narrower  paths,  where 
the  roof  has  once  come  down,  or  the  floor  squeezed  up; 
he  sees  men  working  with  difficulty,  picking  a  deep 
groove  in  a  black  wall,  and  he  hears,  when  away  from 
the  work  going  on,  a  dull  singing  noise  of  escaping  gas 
always  oozing  through  the  coal.  At  one  place  he  is 
shown  where  tons  of  roof  have  recently  fallen,  and  at 
another  cracks,  whence  hogsheads  of  fiery  gas  are  issuing 
with  rapidity,  poisoning  and  rendering  dangerous  all  the 
air  of  the  mine.  He  is  taken  along  miles  of  a  vast  black 
tunnel,  cut  through  the  mineral,  and  the  road  is  to  him 
a  perfect  labyrinth,  though  really  designed  and  executed 
on  an  admirable  system.  At  last  he  is  brought,  some- 
how or  other,  to  a  pit-bottom,  whence  he  is  lifted,  greatly 
to  his  satisfaction,  to  the  outer  world,  and  finally  he  makes 
his  way  to  a  warm  bath  and  pure  air,  and  endeavors 
to  remove,  as  far  as  possible,  the  marks  of  his  visit  from 
his  skin  and  lungs. 

We  have  said  that  the  impression  made  on  an  intelli- 
gent person  by  such  a  visit  is  not  without  some  good 
result.  He  learns  at  least  to  estimate  the  nature  and 
extent  of  the  deposit;  he  sees  some  of  the  peculiarities 
connected  with  its  position  in  the  earth;  he  feels  some 
of  the  difficulties  and  recognizes  some  of  the  dangers  of 
under-ground  engineering;  and  he  wonders  that  men  can 
be  found  who,  for  moderate  wages,  will  undertake  mining 


ANCIENT   FORESTS    AND    MODERN    FUEL.  221 

as  a  regular  employment,  and  give  up  so  much  of  the 
satisfaction  that  all  human  beings  must  have  in  seeing 
the  light  of  day  and  breathing  the  fresh  air. 

But  while  looking  at  the  black  mineral,  cut  through 
with  a  pick,  or  blasted  with  gunpowder  under  ground,  it 
may  occur  to  him  to  look  back  to  the  period  when  this 
material  was  first  formed  or  deposited,  and  consider  the 
circumstances  under  which  it  became  coal. 

The  floor  of  the  coal — in  other  words,  the  earth  on 
which  we  tread  in  a  coal-mine — is  generally  a  bed  of 
bluish  clay;  and  if  a  specimen  of  this  clay  is  brought 
up  and  examined,  it  will  perhaps  be  found  loaded  with 
innumerable  black  stringy  markings,  crossing  each  other 
in  every  direction.  These  were  once  the  rootlets  of 
plants,  that  either  grew  in  this  clay  as  a  vegetable  soil, 
or  were  matted  up  with  it  into  a  tough  mass  before  the 
plants  had  decayed.  Overhead  there  is  generally  sand- 
stone, and  on  the  roof,  where  the  sandstone  and  coal  were 
once  in  contact,  we  may  often  see  long  flat  markings,  the 
stems  of  ancient  trees  that  had  not  entirely  decayed  when 
the  sands  buried  the  whole  mass.  Thus  the  coal  lies  upon 
a  clay  on  which  plants  grew,  and  is  covered  with  a  mate- 
rial that  contains  innumerable  marks  of  similar  vegetation. 
Whatever  the  thickness  of  the  coal  in  the  regular  coal 
deposits  in  England,  these  conditions  of  the  rocks  above 
and  below  are  singularly  uniform.  In  France,  especially 
in  the  small  coal  districts  in  the  west  and  south,  such  is 
not  the  case;  but  the  coal  is  there  generally  of  different 
quality,  and  has  been  accumulated  in  a  different  way. 

The  first  thing  that  is  learnt  on  examining  coal  deposits 
in  England  is,  that  they  are  generally  pretty  uniform  in 

19* 


222  THE    PICTURES    IN    THE    BOOK. 

character  and  thickness  over  several  square  miles  of 
country.  In  some  countries,  especially  in  the  Northern 
States  of  America,  near  the  Ohio,  where  the  extent  of 
coal  is  enormously  greater  than  in  England,  this  regu- 
larity is  far  more  striking  than  with  us;  but  it  is  always 
observable.  Beds  of  coal,  varying  in  thickness,  but  each 
retaining  its  own  thickness,  or  nearly  so,  are  found  lying 
one  above  another,  and  form  a  long  series.  Many  are 
thick  enough  to  be  worth  working,  and  each  of  these  is 
known  by  some  local  name;  others  are  only  just  thick 
enough  to  be  recognized  as  coal,  forming  a  thin  black 
ribbon  among  the  rocks;  but  all  are  generally  so  circum- 
stanced, with  reference  to  the  clay  below  and  sand  above, 
as  to  be  easily  known  to  those  accustomed  to  look  for 
them.  The  clay  jbelow,  with  its  rootlets  (the  under -clay), 
and  the  sandstone  or  other  rock  above,  with  leaves,  twigs, 
and  trunks  of  trees, — these  are  almost  but  not  quite  in- 
variable accompaniments. 

It  is  impossible  not  to  conclude,  from  all  the  circum- 
stances connected  with  coal  deposits,  that  this  mineral  is 
the  remains  of  an  ancient  vegetation,  growing  on  or  near 
the  place  where  we  now  find  it.  Even  the  coal  itself, 
black  and  opaque  as  it  seems,  yields  under  the  searching 
power  of  the  microscope  some  evidence  as  to  its  own 
origin.  When  ground  down  to  the  thinnest  possible 
slice,  and  carefully  examined  under  a  high  power,  traces 
are  seen  here  and  there  of  spiral  vessels,  such  as  belong 
to  woody  fibre,  and  of  some  other  marks  proving  a  com- 
plicated vegetable  structure. 

Fruits,  such  as  nuts  of  strange  forms,  and  even  delicate 
flowers,  have  also  been  detected.  Examples  of  each  of 


ANCIENT    FORESTS   AND    MODERN    FUEL.  223 

the  two  principal  divisions  of  vegetable  structure,  derived 
from  the  mode  of  growth,  have  been  identified.  Insects, 
and  other  animals,  have  been  found,  and  proof  exists  in 
abundance  that  all  coal  was  formed  near  land,  if  it  did 
not  actually  grow  on  the  soil  with  which  it  is  now  buried. 

It  is  worth  while  to  look  back  into  Nature's  history, 
and  endeavor  to  reproduce  a  chapter  of  the  Stone  Book, 
in  reference  to  this  subject.  There  is  a  good  deal  writ- 
ten, and  the  illustrations  are  ample. 

From  a  pile  of  rubbish  near  the  shaft  of  a  coal-mine 
it  would  be  difficult  to  take  up  a  dozen  specimens  of  the 
peculiar  hardened  blue  clay,  called  shale,  so  abundant 
in  such  places,  without  finding  in  some  of  them  impres- 
sions of  leaves ;  and  a  very  little  examination  and  com- 
parison would  suffice  to  enable  any  one  accustomed  to 
plants  to  refer  these  to  some  kind  of  fern.  Why  these 
fossils  should  be  so  invariably  fern-leaves,  instead  of 
leaves  of  the  forest-trees  (which  one  might  have  expected 
to  form  at  least  some  part  of  the  deposit),  is  perhaps  the 
first  question  that  would  suggest  itself  to  any  one  who 
was  desirous  of  obtaining  information  concerning  the  re- 
mains of  a  former  world. 

A  more  thorough  examination,  and  a  visit  to  local 
museums,  where  such  things  are  collected,  arranged,  and 
exhibited,  would,  however,  show  that,  though  not  entirely 
absent,  leaf-fragments  of  other  plants  than  ferns  are  so 
exceedingly  rare  that  they  may  practically  be  disregarded 
in  considering  the  important  contributories  to  coal. 

Either  of  two  causes  may  have  brought  about  this 
result.  The  other  plants  may  have  been  absent  alto- 
gether, or  they  may  have  been  less  easily  preserved,  when 


224  THE   PICTURES   IN    THE   BOOK. 

buried — perhaps  under  water — in  the  conditions  favor- 
able for  making  coal  out  of  wood.  Experiment  has 
shown  that  the  leaves  of  our  forest-trees  decay  much 
more  rapidly  than  fern-leaves,  and  thus  there  may  have 
been  large  accumulations  of  the  former  that  have  disap- 
peared, although  they  have  helped  to  make  coal;  but  the 
vast  multitude  of  ferns  seems,  of  itself,  to  show  that  these 
were  really  predominant,  and  a  further  study  of  the  trunks 
of  the  trees  points  to  the  same  conclusion. 

Remains  of  the  trunks  of  trees  are  sometimes  very 
numerous  and  very  large  in  the  sandstones  near  coal,  and 
numerous  fine  specimens  have  also  been  found  in  the 
shales  or  clayey  beds,  especially  when  these,  instead  of 
sandstones,  rest  upon  the  coal,  forming  a  roof.  In  fact, 
it  would  seem  generally  that  the  greater  number  of  re- 
cognizable fossil  plants  occur  in  this  position,  heaped  as 
it  were  on  the  top  of  the  vegetable  mass  that  has  been 
converted  into  mineral  fuel. 

Let  us  now  endeavor  to  reproduce  an  ancient  forest 
such  as  existed  in  and  near  our  island  at  the  time  when 
the  great  mass  of  our  coal  was  in  preparation;  and,  as 
far  as  the  materials  will  justify,  let  us  also  people  this 
forest  with  animal  life.  In  the  half-title  to  this  part  of 
the  book  will  be  found  an  art  representation  that  will  help 
the  reader  in  forming  an  opinion. 

Such  a  forest  certainly  abounded  with  lofty  plants  of 
ferns,  like  those  we  now  call  tree-ferns,  and  to  such  an 
extent  that  in  many  places  it  probably  contained  little 
else.  As,  however,  in  Norfolk  Island  and  other  parts  of 
the  Antipodes,  where  such  vegetation  now  prevails,  the 
outskirts  of  the  thick  forests  may  have  exhibited  a  con- 


ANCIENT    FORESTS   AND    MODERN   FUEL.  225 

siderable  admixture  of  other  trees,  and  here  and  there 
groups  where  the  ferns  were  absent.  Pines  of  large 
dimensions  were  certainly  among  these  occasional  trees. 

Let  us  look  a  little  more  closely  at  the  trees  which 
seem  to  have  been  the  chief  agents  in  supplying  mate- 
rial for  coal.  There  are  many  portions  of  large  trunks, 
many  markings  of  the  bark,  many  casts  of  the  interior, 
and  not  a  few  fragments,  which  show  the  texture  of  the 
wood,  the  springing  of  the  branches,  and  the  attachment 
of  the  roots.  Occasionally  the  structure  of  the  wood  can 
be  examined  under  the  microscope;  but  this  is  a  rare 
exception,  for  the  stone  is  generally  not  in  a  state  to 
admit  of  this  minute  examination. 

There  are  three  kinds  of  trees  exceedingly  unlike  one 
another  that  appear  to  have  combined  to  form  a  very 
large  proportion  of  the  actual  coal.  Each  of  these  may 
have  been  represented  by  a  great  variety  of  species;  but 
as,  on  the  whole,  it  is  the  habit  of  plants,  when  they 
grow  freely  and  abundantly,  to  exclude  strangers,  so  there 
may  have  been  then  but  little  admixture  in  the  depths  of 
the  forest.  We  can  in  a  general  way  understand  the  ap- 
pearance and  nature  of  these  three  kinds  of  ancient  forest- 
trees. 

Crowds  of  lofty  trunks  (Sigittaria),  not  scaled  like 
pines,  but  fluted  like  the  columns  of  a  temple,  rise  before 
us  in  groups,  each  trunk  terminating  in  a  magnificent 
crest  of  fronds,  some  drooping  over,  some  curling  in 
curious  contortions  towards  the  light.  Whether  of  the 
dark  green  of  some  of  our  ferns,  or  of  the  bright  metal- 
lic tint  of  others,  these  ferns,  forming  the  capitals  of 
natural  columns,  must  have  presented  a  strange  appear- 


226  THE    PICTURES   IN    THE   BOOK. 

ance.  Thickly  grouped,  they  must  almost  have  excluded 
light  from  the  ground,  and  thus  there  was,  perhaps,  only 
a  small  amount  of  other  vegetation,  except  where  an 
opening  occurred.  Rapid  growth  and  equally  rapid  decay, 
in  a  moist  atmosphere,  and  under  a  clouded  sky,  would 
accumulate  a  vast  amount  of  vegetable  matter  in  such 
forests  in  a  short  time,  and  it  would  be  left  to  the 
insects  to  destroy  the  fallen  wood.  Should  it  happen 
that  the  land  was  swampy  and  insects  not  abundant,  the 
trees  might  accumulate  and  form  a  thick  mass  of  half- 
rotten  matter. 

The  trunks  of  these  trees  would  not  seem  to  have 
been  very  solid,  or  at  least  the  interior  was  liable  to  decay 
more  rapidly  than  the  bark.  Flattened  stems  that  have 
belonged  to  trees  three  or  four  feet  in  diameter,  and  from 
forty  to  fifty  feet  high,  are  not  uncommon.  Others  have 
been  found  larger,  and  some  that  were,  perhaps,  double 
the  height  mentioned.  At  regular  intervals  the  chan- 
nelled stem  is  deeply  marked  by  curious  scars, — the 
places  on  which  leaves  or  fronds  have  formed  and  grown, 
and  from  which  they  have  fallen.  Within  the  thick 
bark  there  was  woody  tissue,  growing,  like  that  of  ferns, 
by  additions  above  and  not  around.  Thus,  a  young  fern 
now  will  shoot  up  and  become  a  tree  by  degrees,  and  even 
assume  the  proportions  of  a  lofty  tree;  but  all  this  time 
it  does  not  enlarge  its  bulk,  and  is  rarely  branched. 
Trees  of  this  kind  continue  to  grow  in  height  as  long  as 
they  live,  and  break  off  near  the  root  when  once  dead. 

The  roots  (called  Stigmarm)  of  these  singular  trees 
were  not  at  all  less  remarkable  than  the  trunk.  Large 
circular  roots  passed  off  in  every  direction  from  the  base 


ANCIENT   FORESTS   AND    MODERN    FUEL.          227 

of  the  trunk,  like  the  spokes  of  a  wheel.  Each  main 
root  had  its  offsets  of  smaller  size,  and  each  one  of  these 
its  leaf-like,  long  rootlets,  spreading  in  every  direction, 
and  producing  that  complicated  mass  of  tendrils  found 
in  the  beds  of  under-clay  that  serve  as  floors  to  the  coal. 
Thus,  this  tree,  instead  of  seeking  food  from  the  air  by 
a  complicated  apparatus  of  branches,  twigs,  and  true 
leaves,  obtained  what  nourishment  it  required  from  the 
earth,  and  passed  this  food,  by  circulation,  through  the 
lofty  vertical  trunk  to  the  fronds  at  the  top.  The  roots 
and  rootlets  remain  in  the  clay,  little  changed  even  when 
the  trunk  and  fronds  have  been  converted  into  coal,  and 
have  lost  all  traces  of  their  original  form  as  well  as  of 
their  texture. 

Such  would  seem  to  have  been  the  condition  of  one 
of  the  principal  trees  of  the  coal  period.  How  long  it 
continued,  how  often  it  was  repeated,  why  these  parti- 
cular trees  rather  than  others  were  so  frequently  accumu- 
lated in  thick  masses  on  the  ground,  we  cannot  tell. 
These  speculations  we  must  leave  for  the  present. 

Another  very  different  tree  demands  our  attention. 
Lofty,  and  having  the  proportions  of  firs,  such  trees  (Le- 
pidodendrori)  shot  up  into  the  clouds  on  a  mountain- 
side, and  yet  they  present  the  peculiarities  of  leaf-vege- 
tation of  the  club-mosses.  New  Zealand  and  other  moist 
insular  climates  present  us  with  club-mosses,  not  unlike 
dwarf  trees ;  but  these  are  only  a  few  inches  high :  the 
coal  seems  to  show  us  these  magnified  into  forest  vegeta- 
tion. There  are  trunks  twenty  to  fifty  feet  high,  branch- 
ing and  forking  in  a  peculiar  manner,  and  scarred  like 
pines.  The  stems  of  such  trees  were  like  those  of  ferns, 


228  THE   PICTURES    IN    THE    BOOK. 

and  must  have  grown  by  additions  to  the  extremity;  the 
leaves,  or  whatever  they  may  be  called, — delicate  feathery 
filaments,  pointed  at  the  end, — shot  out  from  the  stem ; 
and  there  were  no  twigs.  The  fruit  grew  at  the  ex- 
tremity of  the  branches,  and  resembled  the  very  long- 
cone  of  a  fir.  Trees  such  as  these  are  not  rare,  but  they 
do  not  seem  to  have  been  so  numerous  as  the  other  kind 
we  have  attempted  to  describe.  Their  remains  are  found 
in  similar  localities. 

A  third  singular  form  of  vegetation  is  before  us, — a 
gigantic  reed,  made  up,  like  a  bamboo,  of  numerous 
joints,  hollow  and  cylindrical,  now  only  to  be  seen 
crushed  and  flattened,  and  often  only  known  by  the 
markings  it  has  left  on  stone.  This  tree  (the  Calamite) 
was  limited  to  swampy  places,  and  was  there  exceed- 
ingly common.  It  is  met  with  wherever  coal  is  found, 
and  the  varieties  of  detail  are  very  great.  Some  na- 
turalists have  thought  that  it  resembled  those  marsh 
plants  called  mare's-tail  (Equisetum),  so  common  in  our 
own  country.  Some  have  referred  to  it  as  a  variety  of 
plants  with  true  woody  structure,  increasing  by  an  annual 
thickening  of  the  wood  under  the  bark.  Leaves  seem  to 
have  proceeded  in  a  fringe-like  form  from  each  joint,  and 
branches  were  given  off  at  intervals.  Nothing  is  known 
of  the  fruit.  These  trees  were  sometimes  thirty  or  forty 
feet  in  height,  and  two  or  three  feet  in  diameter.  The 
trunk  was  deeply  fluted,  and  at  each  joint  there  was  a 
flat  plate  or  diaphragm  crossing  the  stem. 

Numerous  varieties  of  tree-ferns,  such  as  still  abound 
in  the  Southern  hemisphere;  very  tall,  coniferous  trees, 
like  the  great  Araucaria  of  Norfolk  Island;  several  palm- 


ANCIENT   FORESTS   AND    MODERN    FUEL.  229 

trees,  bearing  fruit  not  very  different  from  some  forms  of 
dates;  these,  and  a  multitude,  of  other  plants,  have  been 
found  buried  with  the  sand  and  mud  that  have,  in  course 
of  time,  made  up  the  rocks  we  now  call  coal-measures. 
These,  then,  with  the  nondescripts  we  have  endeavored 
to  picture,  formed  the  vegetation  of  north  temperate  land 
during  the  coal  period. 

With  these  plants  the  remains  of  a  few  insects  have 
been  found,  including  among  them  a  scorpion.  There 
were  also  a  number  of  small  lizards,  and  perhaps  some 
larger  reptiles.  Little  else  is  known  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the  land  at  this  distant  period.  There  may  have  been 
many  whose  remains  were  not  preserved.  There  may 
also  have  been  many  whose  remains  are  safely  buried,  but 
which  have  not  yet  been  turned  up.  Judging  from  the 
number  and  variety  of  additions  within  the  last  few  years, 
since  attention  was  directed  to  the  subject,  the  last  hypo- 
thesis is  probable  enough. 

How  have  these  ancient  forests  been  converted  into 
coal  available  for  fuel?  How  have  they  been  buried 
under  such  thick  masses  of  stone  and  clay?  How  have 
they  been  broken  up  into  compartments  and  tilted  at  high 
angles,  as  they  are  found  to  be  in  our  English  coal-mines  ? 
And,  lastly,  how  have  they  been  brought  into  their  pre- 
sent accessible  position?  These  are  questions  of  great 
interest,  not  very  easily  answered  without  some  knowledge 
of  the  general  history  of  the  earth  in  respect  to  other 
rocks.  Let  us  consider  each  in  its  turn. 

The  essential  difference  between  wood  and  coal  consists 
in  the  replacement  of  the  water  always  found  in  fresh 
vegetation  by  gases  never  found  there  in  a  free  state. 
20 


230  THE   PICTURES   IN   THE   BOOK. 

It  is  perhaps  quite  impossible,  by  any  artificial  drying 
short  of  charring,  to  deprive  wood  so  completely  of 
moisture  that  the  part  still  left  behind  shall  not  inter- 
fere seriously  with  the  value  of  the  material  as  fuel; 
for  so  long  as  any  water  is  present  the  whole  of  it 
has  to  be  evaporated  into  steam  before  available  heat  is 
obtained,  and  the  heat  lost  in  this  process  must  be  de- 
ducted from  the  heat-giving  power  of  the  fuel.  Coal  con- 
tains no  water,  but,  on  the  contrary,  it  holds  a  certain 
proportion  of  hydrogen  and  some  oxygen  gas;  but  these 
help  combustion  rather  than  hinder  it,  and  are  useful  for 
other  purposes.  There  is  also  another  difference  between 
wood  and  coal,  indicated  by  the  closer  texture  of  the 
latter.  The  cellular  condition  of  the  wood  is,  in  fact, 
altered,  and  the  water-contents  of  the  cells  must  be 
removed  or  decomposed  before  coal  is  produced.  This 
chemical  change  has  never  been  produced  artificially, 
either  in  the  case  of  green  wood,  dried  wood,  the  black 
wood  obtained  from  ferns  and  bog,  or  various  deposits  in 
the  earth,  nor  with  such  vegetation  as  peat.  All  these 
still  contain  water :  they  do  not  contain  gas,  and  they 
are  not  dense  and  compact  stony  substances. 

Nature  would  seem  to  require  a  long  period  of  time 
and  certain  conditions  of  heat  and  pressure  to  bring 
about  the  required  result.  The  woody  matter  originally 
accumulated  has  been  buried  with  clay  and  sand.  The 
whole  together  has  been  sunk  down  into  the  earth,  and 
has  then  been  gradually  covered  up  with  newer  deposits, 
until  it  has  reached  a  depth  where  the  temperature  is 
high  enough  for  the  chemical  change  needed.  For 
thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  years  the  ancient 


ANCIENT    FORESTS   AND    MODERN   FUEL.  231 

forests  have  been  thus  exposed,  and  at  length  the  work 
is  done,  and  coal  has  replaced  wood,  sand  has  become 
sandstone,  and  clay  shale.  Who  can  say  how  long  the 
beds  may  have  remained  after  this  change,  or  when  the 
movements  took  place  that  have  brought  the  whole  again 
to  the  surface? 

But  still  the  question  remains,  how  have  so  many  suc- 
cessive deposits  of  vegetable  matter  been  produced  in  so 
narrow  a  space  ?  Perhaps,  in  the  absence  of  facts  bear- 
ing on  the  inquiry,  it  is  safer  to  leave  this  great  diffi- 
culty without  an  attempt  at  solution.  That  sometimes 
the  trees  grew  on  the  clay  where  their  roots  still  remain, 
and  on  which  the  coal  now  lies,  would  seem  unquestionable. 
That  in  other  cases  the  whole  mass  of  vegetable  matter 
has  been  conveyed  from  a  distance,  and  has  been  mixed 
up  with  marine  remains,  is  equally  certain.  We  may  so 
easily  lose  ourselves  in  conjectures  as  to  the  best  explana- 
tion, not  only  of  the  repeated  depressions  of  the  surface 
that  admitted  of  a  succession  of  deposits,  but  of  the 
mere  fact  of  the  accumulation  of  vegetable  matter  in  a 
state  of  decomposition,  that  we  are  obliged  to  imagine 
rather  than  able  to  investigate.  It  is  something  in  these 
cases  to  recognize  a  difficulty. 

The  deposits  of  vegetable  matter,  sand,  and  mud, 
once  converted  into  coal,  stone,  and  shale,  in  horizontal 
and  parallel  layers,  the  mechanical  uplifting  could  only 
have  been  caused  by  some  great  force  acting  from  below, 
and  upheaving,  with  resistless  power,  the  whole  mass. 
But  in  such  upheaval,  whether  slowly  or  rapidly  per- 
formed,— whether  a  succession  of  violent  earthquakes 
has  jerked  mountains  into  the  air,  or,  which  seems  more 


232  THE   PICTURES   TN    THE    BOOK. 

likely,  a  gentle  pulsation  has  by  degrees  brought  up 
the  mass,  at  the  rate  of  only  a  few  inches,  or  at  most 
a  few  feet,  in  a  century, — in  any  case  there  must  have 
been  fracture  of  the  brittle  minerals,  partial  upheavals, 
separations  of  beds  and  liftings  up  of  one  part  higher 
than  another,  tiltings  up  of  certain  strata  and  droppings 
down  of  others,  accompanied  by  a  washing  away  of  loose 
material  from  the  surface,  especially  when  the  elevation 
has  brought  surface-beds  under  the  influence  of  the  sea- 
waves.  Thus  have  been  produced  all  those  results  that  at 
first  seem  so  strange;  and  the  reader  may  safely  accept 
this  as  the  explanation  of  the  third  and  fourth  queries. 

We  may  now  proceed  to  the  consideration  of  another 
matter  concerning  these  ancient  forests,  and  learn,  if 
possible,  how  far  they  could  have  grown  in  the  climates 
in  which  they  are  now  found.  The  great  beds  of  coal 
are  very  widely  spread,  and  fossil  remains  of  plants  very 
nearly  allied  to  each  other,  if  not  identical,  range  at 
no  very  distant  intervals  throughout  the  whole  of  the 
north  temperate  zone,  and  extend  even  within  the  Arctic 
Circle.  Similar  trees  appear  to  have  inhabited  the  coun- 
try now  occupied  by  the  European  continent,  the  northern 
part  of  North  America,  and  even  China  and  Japan. 
Similar  trees  occurring  over  this  wide  tract  presume  a 
similar  climate  everywhere  and  some  means  of  communi- 
cation. There  is  no  other  condition  of  land  conceivable 
than  a  vast  archipelago, — a  countless  multitude  of  islands 
of  various  sizes,  but  with  no  continued  continent,  studded 
over  the  whole  area.  Such  an  archipelago  exists  to  some 
degree  in  the  South  Atlantic  Ocean  now,  and  is  there 
accompanied  by  a  condition  of  depression  admitting  of 


ANCIENT    FORESTS    AND    MODERN    FUEL.  233 

the  growth  of  coral  islands  with  extreme  rapidity.  Such 
an  archipelago,  we  must  suppose,  then  occupied  the  whole 
Northern  hemisphere  in  temperate  latitudes.  If  there 
were  masses  of  land  without  mountains  in  the  Tropics, 
and  no  land  whatever  in  the  Arctic  Circle,  the  conditions 
would  be  still  more  favorable. 

And  the  climate  that  would  belong  to  lands  so  placed 
may  be  guessed  at  with  tolerable  certainty.  The  outly- 
ing islands  near  Great  Britain,  in  spite  of  the  great  mass 
of  continental  Europe,  possess  climates  so  equable  as  to 
astonish  all  those  who  first  make  acquaintance  with  them. 
With  an  average  temperature  not  much  higher  than  that 
of  London,  we  have  here,  in  spite  of  cold  northerly 
winds  and  the  ice  in  the  Atlantic,  spots  where  snow  is 
rarely  seen  and  water  hardly  ever  freezes.  The  vegeta- 
tion of  the  South  of  Europe  easily  adapts  itself  there; 
the  orange-tree  and  the  arbutus  ripen  their  fruits  in  the 
open  air,  and  delicate  flowering  shrubs,  elsewhere  confined 
to  the  greenhouse,  here  adorn  the  garden  during  the 
whole  winter. 

One  step  further — a  change  that  should  remove  these 
islands  from  the  influence  of  cold  land-winds — would  as- 
similate their  climate  very  closely  to  that  of  the  islands 
near  Australia,  where  ferns  are  the  prevailing  vegetation, 
where  they  grow  to  gigantic  size,  and  are  accompanied 
by  trees  perhaps  the  nearest  in  many  respects  to  those  of 
the  coal  period.  This  change  would  be  effected  if,  in 
place  of  the  Alps  and  the  land  ranging  northward  towards 
the  pole,  there  were  a  sea  covered  only  with  islands  of 
moderate  elevation. 

There  is  really  nothing,  so  far  as  the  present  know- 
20* 


234  THE    PICTURES    IN    THE    BOOK. 

ledge  of  coal-plants  indicates,  which  requires  for  their 
production  more  than  that  amount  of  warmth  with  moist- 
ure and  that  absence  from  chilling  cold  that  belongs  to 
islands  in  temperate  latitudes  with  no  adjacent  large  con- 
tinent. The  conditions  of  the  Southern  hemisphere  are 
in  no  way  remarkably  favorable  in  these  respects,  though 
much  more  so  than  in  the  north ;  for  there  the  continu- 
ous ice  extends  actually  much  farther  from  the  pole  than 
it  does  in  the  Northern  hemisphere,  and  floating  ice 
reaches  to  latitudes  which  correspond  with  those  of  the 
Mediterranean  islands.  The  extreme  of  equable  climate 
is  certainly  not  obtained  on  any  part  of  the  present  sur- 
face of  the  earth,  and  the  conditions  are  nowhere  such 
as  to  suggest  that  a  limit  of  warmth  and  moisture  has 
been  approached. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  certain  that  the  present  land 
in  the  Northern  hemisphere  must  have  been  submerged 
during  the  whole  time  of  deposit  of  the  great  series  of 
rocks  which  we  now  find  overlying  the  coal  measures. 
It  is  not  only  a  conjecture,  but  a  certainty,  that  this  was 
the  case,  since  all  these  are  marine  deposits  and  loaded 
with  marine  productions.  The  changes  of  level  that 
have  brought  the  coal  within  reach  have  been  alone  suffi- 
cient to  lift  all  the  land  of  the  Northern  hemisphere  from 
deep  water. 

We  are,  then,  at  liberty  to  assume  that  our  ancient 
forests  grew  on  islands  of  various  dimensions  near  the 
present  deposits  of  coal,  if  not  on  those  actual  spots. 
These  islands,  if  at  no  very  great  distance  asunder  and 
if  connected  by  marine  currents,  might  easily  have  had 
similar  vegetation ;  they  might  even  have  possessed  iden- 


ANCIENT   FORESTS    AND    MODERN   FUEL.  235 

tical  species.  That  such  islands  should  have  a  rapid 
succession  of  forest-growth  and  a  quick  accumulation  of 
trees  and  vegetation  in  their  hollows,  with  but  few  ani- 
mal inhabitants,  is  probable ;  and  that  they  should  have 
been  subjected  to  occasional  depression  is  only  what  we 
find  now  in  the  Southern  seas.  There  is  no  reason  to 
doubt  that  there  would  be  warmth  and  moisture  enough 
under  such  circumstances  to  account  for  a  rank  growth 
of  ferns  and  palms,  mixed  with  gigantic  pines  and  per- 
haps a  few  forest-trees,  resembling  those  which  we  still 
possess. 

The  extent  of  accumulation  of  vegetable  matter  re- 
quired to  produce  a  single  bed  of  coal  of  moderate 
thickness  is,  however,  so  great,  and  the  number  of  coal- 
seams  in  a  single  district  is  so  considerable,  that  one 
is  lost  in  astonishment  at  the  magnitude  of  the  result. 
Even  if  the  whole  growth  of  wood  be  taken,  the  time 
required  to  produce  an  acre  of  coal  a  foot  thick  from  an 
acre  of  forest  would,  under  any  circumstances  of  growth, 
amount  to  many  centuries;  and  it  cannot  be  supposed 
that  any  thing  like  the  whole  growth  could  be  secured. 
Look  at  it  as  we  may,  the  mere  heaping  together  of  the 
raw  material  for  those  scores  of  millions  of  tons  of  fuel 
annually  consumed  in  England  is  a  subject  that  must 
ever  present  great  difficulty  to  understand,  and  the  more 
so  as  we  are  unable  to  point  to  any  thing  in  recent  times 
strictly  analogous. 

And  the  interval  of  time  that  separated  the  ancient 
forests  from  the  human  period,  when  their  remains  were 
first  to  be  extracted  from  the  earth  as  modern  fuel,  is  not 
one  of  the  least  remarkable  subjects  for  contemplation. 


236  THE    PICTURES    IN    THE    BOOK. 

Each  step  in  the  operation  demands  so  much  time  and 
has  been  followed  by  such  long  repose — each  bed  has  had 
to  be  so  hardened  and  altered,  and  afterwards  lifted  and 
depressed  and  lifted  again,  before  other  beds  were  placed 
upon  it  in  their  turn — that  one  is  lost  in  the  endeavor  to 
trace  the  history  and  connection  of  the  various  movements, 
and  read  the  succession  whose  broken  links  are  seen  in 
the  different  intervening  strata. 

Perhaps  there  is  no  geological  question  that  admits  of 
closer  discussion — none  in  which  the  evidence  adduced 
is  larger  in  amount  or  more  satisfactory  in  its  nature,  and 
at  the  same  time  none  in  which  the  general  conclusion  is 
more  overwhelming  in  the  vastness  of  all  it  offers  for  con- 
sideration— than  this  concerning  the  origin  and  history 
of  mineral  fuel.  No  one  can  for  a  moment  doubt  that 
the  rocks  containing  coal  abound  with  indications  of 
plants,  and  that  they  were  originally  deposits  formed 
in  the  vicinity  of  land.  No  one,  again,  who  has  looked 
closely  into  the  matter  has  ever  ventured  to  suggest  that 
true  coal  can  have  had  any  other  than  a  vegetable  origin. 
The  nature  of  the  vegetation  is  indicated  by  numberless 
examples,  and  the  coal  appears  to  have  been  derived, 
partly  or  chiefly,  from  the  trunks  of  the  trees  of  which 
we  have  the  fossil  leaves.  But  the  change  that  has  taken 
place  to  convert  wood  or  other  vegetation  into  coal  has 
never  yet  been  imitated  in  human  laboratories,  and  its 
nature  can  only  be  guessed  at.  The  accumulated  heaps 
of  sand  now  converted  into  sandstone  and  lying  over  the 
coal  are  sometimes  penetrated  for  many  yards  by  the 
trunk  of  some  ancient  tree,  also  changed  into  stone  •  and 
yet  no  one  can  decide  absolutely  whether  such  accumula- 


ANCIENT   FORESTS   AND    MODERN   FUEL.  237 

tions  of  sand  were  rapid  or  slow.  Among  the  shales 
that  alternate  with  the  sandstones  are  numerous  and 
valuable  deposits  of  iron- ore,  whose  origin  is  not  less  ob- 
scure than  the  conversion  of  wood  into  coal,  but  which 
certainly  were  not  what  they  now  are  when  the  beds 
were  deposited ;  for  many  of  the  oval  nodules  of  rich  ore 
are  formed  on  some  small  fragment  of  a  fern,  or  exhibit 
a  fruit  of  some  tree  in  their  centre.  All  these  changes 
seem  to  tend  to  the  one  great  result, — an  accumulation  of 
mineral  treasure  into  one  spot  which  had  been  previously 
distributed  irregularly  through  a  large  space, — a  double 
concentration  of  mineral  wealth  in  two  forms  most  useful 
to  man. 

Thus,  ancient  forests,  distributed  over  groups  of  islands 
in  the  Northern  hemisphere,  have  here  and  there,  by 
some  happy  accident,  escaped  from  natural  decay  and 
have  become  buried  with  mud  and  sand.  The  cause, 
whatever  it  may  have  been,  that  first  preserved  the  woody 
and  leafy  matter  from  decay  continued  to  act  at  the  sur- 
face, repeating  its  effect  on  each  successive  deposit  that 
came  under  its  influence,  while  those  heaps  already  com- 
pleted passed  downwards  to  greater  depth,  perhaps  by 
the  slow  collapse  of  some  vast  subterranean  cavern.  The 
climatal  cause  that  produced  the  coarse  and  rapid  vege- 
tation did  not  cease  for  a  long  period,  and  the  forests 
grew  and  were  destroyed  time  after  time,  the  whole  after 
each  destruction  being  sealed  up  by  overlying  heaps  of 
sand  and  clay  till  the  uppermost  deposit  lay  some  thou- 
sand feet  over  that  first  formed.  The  buried  vegetation 
was  squeezed  by  the  vast  pressure  of  all  this  overlying 
mass,  and  afterwards  by  the  load  of  hundreds  of  fathoms 


238  THE    PICTURES   TN    THE    BOOK. 

of  water.  Other  deposits  succeeded,  other  climates  pre- 
vailed ;  there  were  great  changes  among  the  inhabitants 
of  the  globe;  even  the  trees  and  shrubs  were  altered,  and 
the  zamia  took  the  place  of  the  tree-fern,  to  be  in  its 
turn  succeeded  by  the  present  Northern  vegetation.  All 
this  time  the  buried  forests  were  ripening  into  coal. 
Century  after  century  the  slow  change  went  on  :  the 
woody  fibre  became  lost,  the  cell-structure  of  the  fibre 
decayed;  the  water,  unable  entirely  to  escape,  was  re- 
solved into  its  elements,  and  these  entered  into  new 
combinations,  carburetted  hydrogen  being  formed  under 
great  pressure,  and  remaining  pent  up  within  the  minute 
interstices  of  the  newly-formed  mineral. 

Of  the  millions  of  square  miles  of  land  forming  the 
islands  of  the  ancient  archipelago,  a  few  thousands  are 
now  covered  with  coal.  Buried  beneath  hundreds  of 
yards  of  earth,  and  for  the  most  part  out  of  sight,  this 
mineral  is  eagerly  sought  for,  and  its  value  everywhere 
recognized.  North  America,  both  the  Northern  States  of 
the  Union  and  the  British  possessions,  contains  large  de- 
posits easily  accessible.  Great  Britain  has  numerous  de- 
posits, far  smaller,  but  of  excellent  quality;  and  these 
also  are,  for  the  most  part,  readily  obtained,  though  at 
some  cost.  Belgium,  Northern  France,  and  Western 
Germany  have  each  small  slices  of  the  same  valuable 
material.  In  Southern  France  and  Spain,  in  Russia  and 
Hungary,  and  in  many  other  parts  of  Europe,  there  is 
also  coal.  In  various  parts  of  Asia,  in  South  Africa,  in 
Australia,  and  in  some  of  the  islands  adjacent,  patches 
occur  so  similar  in  all  essential  points  that  they  seem  due 
to  similar  causes.  In  the  Tropics;  as  well  as  in  temperate 


ANCIENT    FORESTS    AND    MODERN    FUEL.  239 

latitudes,  and  within  the  Arctic  Circle, — in  the  south  as 
well  as  in  the  north, — mineral  fuel,  associated  with  fossil 
vegetation,  has  therefore  been  found ;  and  there  is  every- 
where a  remarkable  uniformity  in  the  conditions  under 
which  the  two  are  present.  The  unused  forest- trees  of 
old  times  have  been  converted  into  fuel  for  our  benefit. 
There  are  large  stores  of  it;  but  these  stores  are  not  in- 
exhaustible, nor  are  they  capable  of  renovation.  The 
modern  forests  once  cut  down  will,  if  properly  managed, 
become  replaced  within  a  century;  but  the  coal  once 
gone  is  gone  forever.  On  the  other  hand,  the  same  work 
may  be  going  on  partly  at  the  mouths  of  our  great  rivers, 
and  partly  where  deposits  of  various  geological  age  are 
buried  beneath  the  surface  of  earth  and  sea  and  are  re- 
moved far  away  out  of  our  sight. 


fyt  Jmtrimtffr, 

THE    PRE-ADAMITE    WORLD. 

Now  comes  another  very  curious  question  for  our  con- 
sideration; and  it  is  one  that  involves  some  difficulties 
not  yet  alluded  to.  Like  other  difficulties,  these  must 
be  fairly  and  honestly  met;  for  we  may  be  quite  sure  that 
it  is  only  in  this  way  that  they  can  be  conquered  and  got 
rid  of.  They  shall  first  be  stated  in  as  few  words  as  pos- 
sible, and  then  we  will  go  on  to  consider  how  far  they 
affect  us  in  understanding  the  geological  problem. 

In  the  first  place,  with  regard  to  man.  We  are  bound 
to  suppose  that  when  a  work  of  art — the  shaping  of  a 
flint  into  the  form  of  a  weapon — is  discovered,  it  indi- 
cates the  presence  of  man  in  the  place  at  some  time  or 
other.  If  such  an  object  is  found  in  a  cavern,  buried 
with  bones,  covered  up  with  a  coat  of  limestone,  and  that 
covering  again  covered  with  gravel  and  other  bones,  all 
indicating  a  gradual  accumulation,  we  should  be  bound 
to  suppose  that  the  place  has  had  an  earlier  race  of  in- 
habitants than  that  whose  remains  are  found  at  the  top, 
and  that  this  earlier  race  has  been  displaced.  It  is  clear 
that  the  more  multiplied  such  specimens  are,  the  greater 
would  be  the  probability  of  there  having  been  a  large 
colony  of  the  early  inhabitants.  If,  too,  these  sculptured 
flints  are  generally  alike  over  a  wide  district,  we  might 
240 


THE   PRE-ADAMITE    WORLD.  241 

fairly  presume  that  they  had  been  made  by  a  race  ori- 
ginally widely  spread. 

If,  again,  buried  with  stone  weapons,  which  carry 
back  the  date  of  the  introduction  of  man  to  a  distant 
day,  there  are  found  the  skeletons  or  other  remains  of 
animals  of  various  kinds  now  quite  unknown,  and  if  all 
these,  or  many  of  them,  have  been  preserved  without 
much  injury  to  the  most  delicate  angles  of  bone,  and  in 
such  numbers  and  variety  as  to  make  it  clear  that  their 
presence  is  not  the  result  of  local  accident,  we  must 
admit  that  these  extinct  races  were  contemporaneous  with 
the  ancient  human  inhabitants.  It  is  well  known  that 
in  Polar  seas  there  have  been  found,  frozen  into  mud- 
cliffs,  the  complete  carcasses  of  elephants  adapted  to  a 
cold  climate  by  a  coat  of  warm  hair,  and  that  these 
carcasses  occupy  positions  many  hundred  miles  removed 
from  the  nearest  country  which  could  now  be  their  per- 
manent home.  There  is  thus  independent  proof  that  not 
only  the  climate,  but  the  larger  quadrupeds,  of  import- 
ant districts  have  greatly  changed;  and,  though  no 
carcasses  of  men  have  been  dug  out  of  these  cliffs,  there 
is  little  doubt  that  men  lived  at  this  period,  and  peopled 
the  countries  of  the  north  temperate  zone.  Very  long, 
therefore,  before  civilized  races  of  men  inhabited  the 
world,  Geology  has  proved  that  the  earth  was  tenanted 
by  an  ample  population,  very  different  from  existing 
races,  although,  no  doubt,  well  adapted  to  the  climate 
and  conditions  of  existence  of  the  time.  Very  long 
indeed  before  even  the  faintest  traces  of  human  remains 
have  been  suspected,  there  were  other  altogether  differ-1 
ent  groups  of  living  things.  No  records  appear  of  these 
21 


242  THE   PICTURES   IN   THE  BOOK. 

in  any  written  book;  but  they  are  objects  not  without 
ample  illustration  in  that  great  stone  record  preserved 
for  our  investigation  in  the  rocks,  mountains,  and  plains. 
We  find  here  all  that  is  needed  to  reproduce  the  original. 
The  portrait  is  veiled,  no  doubt;  but  the  main  outlines 
may  be  withdrawn  from  concealment.  We  are  enabled 
to  bring  together  and  compare  the  bones,  the  teeth,  the 
horny  skin,  the  shell,  or  other  parts  of  animals  that  have 
been  long  buried;  and  afterwards,  with  such  knowledge 
as  we  possess,  we  may  compare  these  with  corresponding 
parts  of  living  and  familiar  animals,  and  arrive  at  definite 
conclusions  concerning  them. 

It  is  no  easy  task,  this  that  we  have  here  pointed  out, 
and  it  has  required  the  combined  knowledge  and  in- 
genuity of  many  great  and  learned  students  of  Nature 
to  come  to  a  decision  on  disputed  points.  For  centu- 
ries men  studied,  and  examined,  and  described,  and  with 
difficulty  became  familiar  with  Nature's  doings  with  ex- 
isting races.  Certain  peculiarities  of  structure  were 
found  to  correspond  with  modes  of  life,  with  the  food, 
the  method  of  obtaining  food,  and  other  matters.  Thus, 
a  particular  form  and  structure  of  tooth  is  known  to  be 
adapted  to  a  particular  kind  of  food.  The  stomach,  also, 
must  correspond  to  the  teeth,  in  order  that  the  food  may 
be  digested ;  the  head  and  extremities  must  be  adapted 
so  as  to  obtain  it,  and  the  remainder  of  the  skeleton 
must  also  be  in  exact  accordance :  so  that  there  is  a  cer- 
tain mutual  fitness  of  all  parts,  by  means  of  which  any 
one  important  bone  or  part  of  the  skeleton  ought  to  be 
sufficient  to  enable  us  to  describe  and  picture  the  whole 
animal. 


THE   PRE-ADAMITE   WORLD.  243 

And  it  is  not  only  thus  in  the  case  of  quadrupeds, 
some  of  whom  are  strong  and  fierce,  some  weak  and 
gentle.  The  bird  has  a  peculiar  structure  of  bone, 
having  reference  to  its  power  of  flight ;  the  fish  has 
another  and  totally  different  structure,  enabling  it  to 
remain  always,  and  without  effort,  floating  in  the  water. 
The  shell  of  the  oyster  or  the  lobster  offers  marked  pecu- 
liarities of  structure.  Some  animals  swim  with  their 
shell,  some  float  with  it;  some  rest  always  on  the  bottom, 
some  burrow  in  the  mud.  In  every  case,  the  shell,  like 
the  bone,  is  adapted  to  the  use  required  of  it,  and  has 
a  corresponding  structure;  and,  indeed,  each  part  of 
every  group  of  animals  appears  to  have  some  peculiarity, 
and  a  special  arrangement  and  contrivance  of  its  own, 
enabling  it  to  do  its  work  in  the  fittest  way,  and  allowing 
it  to  be  identified  even  if  only  a  very  small  part  of  the 
whole  animal  is  present. 

When,  therefore,  a  bone  or  a  shell  is  found,  and  is 
shown  to  a  competent  naturalist, — a  person  whose  study 
it  is  to  find  out  and  describe  these  mutual  relations, — he 
is  often  able  to  tell  at  once  to  what  animal  it  belonged, 
and  even  a  good  deal  about  the  individual  peculiarities 
of  the  animal  itself.  If  a  tooth,  the  form  of  the  tooth 
will  at  once  tell  an  important  tale :  it  was  meant  to  cut 
and  tear,  and  therefore  belonged  to  a  flesh-eating,  fierce 
animal;  or  it  was  meant  to  grind,  and  belonged  to  an 
herbivorous  animal;  or  it  could  both  cut  and  grind,  and 
belonged  to  an  omnivorous  brute.  And  then  its  struc- 
ture :  under  a  powerful  microscope,  the  law  of  its  forma- 
tion, the  relation  it  bears  to  other  teeth  of  the  same  or 
other  animals,  its  mode  of  growth,  and  a  hundred  facts 


244  THE    PICTURES    IN    THE    BOOK. 

of  its  history,  are  revealed.  The  state  of  the  tooth  will 
indicate  the  amount  of  work  it  has  done;  its  fangs  and 
shape  will  tell  from  what  part  of  the  jaws  it  came;  and, 
by  a  succession  of  inferences,  we  shall  learn,  at  last,  what 
particular  species,  or  at  least  what  natural  group,  it  may  be 
referred  to.  Of  course,  some  teeth  are  more  easily  recog- 
nized than  others.  The  elephant's  tooth  is  known  by  its 
size,  as  well  as  by  its  peculiar  arrangement  of  hard  and 
soft  plates  of  bone  and  enamel;  the  shark's,  by  its  shape, 
and  combination  of  saw  and  shears;  the  crocodile's,  by 
its  mode  of  growth;  and  so  on.  In  the  hands  of  the 
comparative  anatomist,  Nature  may  be  interrogated  till 
she  replies  with  complete  accuracy;  and  if  there  is  any 
living  species  known  to  the  inquirer  to  which  the  tooth 
that  is  examined  had  belonged,  to  that  species  the  tooth 
will,  in  most  cases,  be  referred. 

But  if  there  is  no  such  species  known,  are  we  to  con- 
clude that  the  naturalist  is  at  fault,  and  that  he  must 
look  yet  more  minutely  at  existing  creation  to  discover  a 
species  before  unknown  ?  Doubtless,  we  are  still  igno- 
rant of  many  facts  in  natural  history,  and  new  species  are 
being  daily  brought  in  from  various  quarters,  so  that  the 
mere  fact  of  want  of  identity  with  a  known  species  is  not 
sufficient  to  remove  an  undetermined  animal  from  the 
world  of  to-day.  Should  we,  however,  find  that  the  re- 
mains of  animals  buried  in  the  earth,  in  any  country, 
indicate  species  not  only  quite  unknown,  but  more  nearly 
allied  to  some  not  now  found  in  the  country  in  question, — 
when,  for  example,  we  pick  up,  and  hand  in  for  examina- 
tion, numerous  bones  of  the  elephant,  the  rhinoceros,  and 
the  hippopotamus,  found  in  such  beds  of  gravel  as  are 


THE    PRE-ADAMITE    WORLD.  245 

common  in  many  parts  of  England,  or  in  caverns  in  the 
limestone  of  Wales,  Yorkshire,  or  Somersetshire, — the 
case  is  different.  We  know  pretty  well  the  existing 
species  of  these  large  animals,  and  it  is  barely  possible 
that  important  varieties  of  them  can  exist  anywhere, 
either  in  Central  Africa  or  the  Asiatic  islands;  but  that 
any  can  hereafter  be  found  which  now  live,  in  a  wild 
state,  in  northern  temperate  climates,  and  especially  in 
the  smaller  islands  in  our  latitudes,  is  a  simple  impossi- 
bility. The  same  is  the  case  with  the  larger  and  fiercer 
carnivora,  or  flesh-eating  animals;  and  yet  the  bones  of 
large  bears  and  hyenas  are  tolerably  abundant  in  certain 
places  throughout  Western  and  Northern  Europe. 

The  species  of  these  animals  known  only  by  their  fossil 
bones  differ  a  good  deal  from  the  familiar  and  recent 
kinds;  and  thus  we  are  led  to  the  first  great  difficulty 
with  regard  to  fossils,  namely,  that  they  represent  and  illus- 
trate a  natural  history  of  the  past, — not  consisting  merely 
of  fragments  of  creatures  recently  living  on  the  spot,  nor 
even  of  bones  of  such  as  are  still  met  with  at  no  great 
distance  in  wilder  parts  of  the  country  where  man  has 
not  the  upper  hand.  They  belong  to  species  once  living 
and  abundant  in  the  very  spots  where  their  remains  alone 
now  occur.  They  are,  therefore,  extinct  species. 

Now,  it  does  not  follow  that  animals  and  races  are 
everywhere  absent  or  really  extinct  merely  because  they 
are  gone  from  countries  they  once  inhabited.  No  doubt 
the  wolf,  the  wild  boar,  the  black  bear,  the  beaver,  the 
wild  cat,  and  other  animals,  have  departed  from  England 
and  become  locally  extinct;  and  so  long  as  the  land  re- 
mains cultivated  and  crowded  with  men  they  will  never 
21* 


246  THE    PICTURES    IN    THE    BOOK. 

reappear.  But  they  are  only  removed  to  a  short  distance, 
and  it  will  probably  be  very  long  before  they  are  driven 
out  of  their  holds  in  the  wilder  and  less-peopled  parts  of 
the  continent  of  Europe.  It  is  not  so  with  the  elephant 
and  hippopotamus,  the  rhinoceros,  the  great  cavern  bear, 
the  great  hyena,  the  gigantic  large-horned  deer,  and 
many  other  animals,  whose  bones  are  very  common  in 
almost  every  bed  of  gravel,  and  in  caverns.  It  is  as 
certain  that  the  fossil  species  of  these  are  extinct  as  that 
the  African  and  Asiatic  elephants,  the  Polar  and  the 
black  bear,  the  hyena  of  the  Cape  and  that  of  Abyssinia, 
are  essentially  different  the  one  from  the  other. 

We  thus  learn  the  first  lesson  concerning  organic  re- 
mains. They  form  the  earliest  chapter  in  the  history  of 
the  pre- Adamite  world, — the  world  where  men  were  not, 
and  when  the  lower  natures  reigned.  And  just  as  in 
each  country  now  there  is  a  group  of  animals  a  large 
number  of  which  may  range  widely,  while  others  are 
strictly  confined  within  narrow  limits  of  space,  so  in  the 
old  times  each  district  had  its  own  group  of  species  now 
lost.  And  so,  also,  in  all  the  successive  deposits  made  at 
different  times,  there  have  been  at  every  period  natural 
groups, — some  of  species  ranging  widely  in  time,  some 
spreading  over  large  areas,  and  others  almost  confined  to 
one  bed,  or  to  one  brief  period  of  time.  A  due  con- 
sideration of  this  very  important  fact  will  clear  up 
much  that  appears  incomprehensible  in  Geology,  and 
will  enable  the  reader  to  understand  how,  by  the  study 
of  the  natural  group  of  organic  remains  or  fossils  of  any 
district,  a  knowledge  may  be  obtained  as  to  its  relative 


THE    PRE-ADAMITE    WORLD.  247 

age,  and  its  place  in  the  great  series  of  stratified  fossili- 
ferous  rocks. 

A  long  expression  is  this, — the  series  of  stratified  fos- 
siliferous  rocks, — and  a  great  stumbling-block  to  many  a 
young  geologist.  -But  it  has  a  real  and  important  mean- 
ing, and,  when  clearly  felt  as  well  as  understood,  is  a 
wonderful  help  to  the  struggling  student. 

Let  us  endeavor  to  illustrate  the  matter,  as  we  have 
done  more  than  once  before,  by  a  kind  of  mechanical 
diagram.  Suppose  a  heap  of  books,  most  of  them  illus- 
trated, and  all  written  in  languages  concerning  which  we 
are  either  imperfectly  instructed  or  altogether  ignorant. 
These  books,  thrown  confusedly  on  a  table,  may  represent 
a  number  of  deposits  of  various  kinds  of  rock  containing 
fossils.  The  fossils  are  represented  by  the  pictures  in 
the  books,  and  the  books,  piled  in  some  irregular  order, 
now  represent  the  series  of  stratified  fossiliferous  rocks. 
To  identify  the  books  under  such  circumstances,  it  will 
clearly  be  necessary  to  examine  and  compare  the  pictures. 
They  alone  will  teach  us  the  state  of  knowledge  of  the 
people,  and  the  object  of  the  work  illustrated,  and  we 
might  infer  from  them  the  relative  dates  of  the  various 
books.  In  some  cases  we  may  find  the  illustrations  nu- 
merous, clear,  systematic,  and  highly  characteristic;  in 
others  they  are  few,  expressed  in  mere  outline,  difficult 
to  make  out,  and  comparatively  uninteresting.  On  the 
whole,  they  may,  perhaps,  give  us  an  idea  of  the  prevail- 
ing tone  of  the  collection  of  books;  and  what  knowledge 
we  thus  obtain  is  valuable  and  trustworthy.  It  must  be 
remembered,  however,  that  with  regard  to  the  rocks  we 
have  only  lately  begun  to  look  for  these  illustrations. 


248  THE   PICTURES   IN    THE    BOOK. 

Many  of  them  have  been  turned  over  by  our  forefathers 
without  notice  or  allusion  ;  out  of  the  whole  number  act- 
ually there  we  have  seen  but  a  small  proportion,  and  did 
we  know  all  we  should  still  only  have  glimpses  of  a  com- 
plete history.  An  earnest  conviction  of  this  "  imperfec- 
tion of  the  geologic  record"  is,  perhaps,  one  of  the  safest 
feelings  that  can  be  cultivated  by  those  who  attempt  to 
question  Nature  on  this  subject  of  fossils. 

At  the  same  time,  it  is  quite  as  important  that  the  true 
and  great  value'and  accuracy  of  the  knowledge  thus  ob- 
tained, and  the  rapidity  of  its  growth,  should  give  con- 
fidence and  hopefulness.  We  may  not  hope  to  attain  to 
perfect  acquaintance  with  Nature's  scheme,  or  fathom  the 
infinite  depth  of  her  ways.  Unbounded  wealth  of  know- 
ledge exists,  no  doubt,  in  every  department,  and  much  of 
this  wealth  we  may  expect  to  acquire  in  the  course  of 
time;  but  let  no  one  suppose  that  he  has  exhausted  the 
store,  or  that  others  who  succeed  him  may  not  find  even 
more  than  himself,  assisted  as  they  ought  to  be  by  his 
researches,  and  enlightened  by  what  he  and  his  fellow- 
laborers  have  made  clear. 

In  every  department  of  Natural  History,  the  number 
and  variety  of  extinct  animals  determined  only  by  frag- 
ments found  fossil  is  already  large  and  exceedingly  im- 
portant. Even  with  regard  to  man  himself,  although,  as 
we  have  said,  no  bones  have  yet  been  detected,  there  is 
good  evidence  of  a  long  history  and  association  with 
ancient  and  lost  races,  in  the  flint  weapons,  cut  to  a  uni- 
form pattern,  lately  found  in  gravel  and  caverns.  Of  the 
large  quadrupeds,  the  variety  is  considerable;  and  such 
animals,  being  prominent  and  familiarly  known,  naturally 


THE    PRE-ADAMITE    WORLD.  249 

attract  attention.  Their  remains  are  most  abundant  in 
the  newest  deposits;  and,  indeed,  it  is  not  likely  that  com- 
plete remains  of  large  animals  will  ever  be  met  with  in 
the  earlier  rocks,  deposited  when  land  probably  existed  in 
much  smaller  proportion  than  at  present  in  our  latitudes. 
The  elephants,  mastodons,  and  other  great  quadrupeds  of 
similar  bulk  and  structure,  have  left  behind  them  nume- 
rous teeth,  and  bones,  and  tusks,  in  most  parts  of  Europe, 
in  the  various  surface-beds,  chiefly  of  gravel  and  mud; 
and  for  the  most  part  the  extinct  species  differed  from 
existing  kinds  more  in  proportions  than  actual  size. 
Thus,  the  American  elephant  (Mastodon)  had  peculiar 
teeth,  very  different  in  appearance  from  those  of  the 
Asiatic  or  African,  but  serving  similar  purpose.  The 
animal  was  also  longer  in  the  body,  and  not  so  tall.  The 
Asiatic  elephant  of  former  times  resembled  the  Asiatic 
species  at  present  living,  but  was  larger,  and  had  tusks 
of  the  most  portentous  length.  A  minute  species  of  ele- 
phant has  recently  been  discovered  in  Malta.  Extinct 
hippopotami  are  found  in  India,  varying  in  size  from  an 
elephant  to  a  pig ;  and  there  are  several  varieties  of  ex- 
tinct rhinoceroses  showing  extreme  difference  of  dimen- 
sions. 

While,  however,  the  elephantine  animals  in  the  gravel 
were  thus  equal  or  superior  in  size  as  well  as  variety  to 
those  of  Asia,  the  corresponding  animals  in  the  clay-beds 
near  London,  of  much  more  ancient  date,  are  more  varied 
in  form,  and  very  much  smaller.  Few  of  them  exceeded 
in  size  the  American  tapir,  and  they  seem  to  have  been 
adapted  to  live  in  swampy  districts  or  in  water.  Still, 
even  here  there  are  exceptions;  for  a  few  imperfect  speci- 


250  THE    PICTURES   IN    THE    BOOK. 

meris  have  shown  that  there  was  with  these,  in  similar 
deposits,  one  animal  at  least  double  the  size  of  the  tapir, 
and  therefore  approaching  in  that  respect  the  smaller 
elephants. 

The  Mammoth,  the  elephant  of  Siberia, — whose  car- 
cass was  found  in  its  integrity,  at  the  beginning  of  this 
century,  walled  up  in  the  frozen  banks  of  a  river,  in 
latitude  70°  N. — was  by  no  means  the  most  ancient  of  its 
race.  Several  species  are  known  to  have  preceded  it  and 
had  long  cease'd  to  live  before  it  nourished. 

Some  very  singular  extinct  animals  are  known,  which 
form  links  between  living  species  now  widely  separate. 
Who  would  anticipate  the  existence  of  a  creature  with 
the  trunk  and  general  proportions  of  an  elephant,  but 
whose  head  was  decorated  with  four  horns, — two  like  those 
of  the  ox  and  two  like  those  of  the  antelope?  Such 
was  the  Sivathere.,  living  in  India  at  a  time  when  a  great 
lake  extended  south  of  the  Himalayas,  in  the  present 
Valley  of  the  Ganges.  At  the  same  time,  and  in  the 
same  place,  there  existed  a  curious  combination  of  the 
horse  and  rhinoceros,  and  numerous  giraffes,  animals  now 
confined  to  the  interior  of  Africa. 

Other  remarkable  instances  there  are  of  gigantic  ie- 
presentutives  of  existing  quadrupeds.  Some  of  these  are 
very  striking.  Thus,  in  South  America — where  we  have 
now  a  peculiar  group  of  animals,  illustrated  by  the  sloth 
and  the  armadillo,  both  of  small  size  —  the  extinct 
species,  of  no  very  ancient  date,  include  the  Megatherium 
and  Mylodon,  sloths  larger  and  much  more  cumbrous 
than  the  elephant,  and  apparently  adapted  to  serve  the 
same  purpose  in  keeping  down  tree-vegetation.  These 


THE   PRE-ADAMITE   WORLD.  251 

creatures,  not  being  able  to  climb  trees,  pulled  them 
down  and  then  fed  on  them.  So  also  the  Glyptodon,  of" 
the  same  part  of  the  world,  was  an  armadillo  multiplied 
into  an  animal  ten  feet  long,  coated  with  bony  armor 
some  inches  thick  ;  and  the  MacraucJienia  was  an  almost 
equally  expanded  llama.  Australia  presents  a  similar 
condition  of  existence, — the  extinct  kangaroos  of  that 
country  having  been  as  large  as  the  megatherium,  and 
the  wombats  as  large  as  the  tapir.  These  were  accom- 
panied by  a  carnivorous  quadruped,  rivalling  the  lion  in 
size,  but  marsupial  in  its  habits,  like  all  the  quadrupeds 
of  that  remarkable  country,  in  former  times  as  well  as 
now. 

Very  large  animals,  nearly  allied  to  the  lion  and  tiger, 
seem  to  have  extended  over  the  Northern  hemisphere  at 
a  period  not  geologically  remote,  since  their  bones  are 
found  in  the  gravel  and  other  surface-deposits;  and  at 
the  same  time,  as  all  the  principal  natural  groups  of  ani- 
mals seem  to  have  been  ever  limited  geographically,  we 
may  conclude  that  the  present  great  divisions  of  land  and 
water  were  more  than  indicated.  It  is  rarely,  except  in 
Australia,  that  we  find  extinct  marsupials, — rarely,  ex- 
cept in  South  America,  that  we  have  bones  of  extinct 
Edentates]  while  Asia,  at  the  time  we  refer  to,  was  just 
as  remarkable  for  its  pachyderms  and  ruminants  as  it  is 
at  present.  Only  at  that  time  Asia  belonged  to  Europe, 
in  its  zoological  relations,  much  more  than  it  does  now, 
and  even  the  African  hyenas  and  hippopotami  over- 
spread the  northwestern  land.  Bears  of  gigantic  size 
were  common;  a  curious  gigantic  deer,  not  unlike  the 
reindeer,  but  larger,  with  horns  spreading  to  enormous 


252  THE   PICTURES   IN   THE   BOOK. 

width,  ranged  over  our  own  islands  and  the  continent 
adjacent,  and  was  accompanied  by  other  deer,  some  still 
remaining  in  Northern  Europe,  but  most  of  them  lost 
forever. 

When  we  pass  on  to  consider  the  quadrupeds  of  still 
older  rocks,  we  must  be  prepared  for  a  great  change. 
The  illustrations  pictured  in  the  Stone  Record  are  few, 
and  belong  to  very  small  kinds;  but  whether  this  small 
size,  and  the  curious  marsupial  structure  indicated  by  the 
skeleton,  really-  mean  that  nothing  more  existed  at  that 
time,  or  whether  the  land  in  our  neighborhood  consisted 
only  of  small  and  detached  islands  instead  of  large  con- 
tinents, it  would  not  be  safe  to  assert.  Certain  it  is  that 
groups  of  small  islands  in  an  open  sea  are  still  without 
quadrupeds  larger  than  a  rat;  and  there  would  seem  no 
reason  why  this  should  not  account  for  the  absence  of 
fossils,  without  having  recourse  to  the  assumption  that 
no  larger  kinds  had  been  created. 

Birds  tell  the  same  tale  as  quadrupeds  in  all  essential 
points.  Their  bones  being  for  the  most  part  small  and 
delicate,  and  the  greater  number  of  them  living  quite  in 
the  interior  of  land,  it  could  hardly  be  that  many  of 
their  remains  would  be  found  among  the  fossils.  Still, 
as  a  considerable  group  inhabit  near  the  shore,  and  are 
frequently  flying  over  the  sea,  there  is  nothing  improba- 
ble in  their  being  preserved.  There  are,  in  fact,  abun- 
dant proofs  of  their  existence,  even  in  rocks  very  low  in 
the  great  series,  although  the  actual  remains  found  in 
such  localities  are  few  and  unsatisfactory.  But  there  is 
one  very  curious  fact  regarding  birds.  Though  usually 
adapted  for  flight,  there  are  some  species  confined  to  the 


THE   PRE-ADAMITE    WORLD.  253 

land,  and  these  are  more  or  less  nearly  deprived  of  wings. 
Just  as,  in  Australia,  there  are  a  number  of  extinct  but 
gigantic  marsupial  quadrupeds,  so  in  the  islands  of  New 
Zealand,  not  far  off,  there  are  numerous  remains  of 
gigantic  wingless  birds,  represented  at  present  by  smaller 
wingless  birds  of  very  similar  habits.  In  both  cases  the 
number  and  variety  of  the  extinct  species  is  consider- 
able, and  the  giants  must  have  continued  very  nearly 
to  our  own  times. 

Besides  the  bones  of  birds,  their  footprints  are  some- 
times retained  when  they  have  walked  over  mud  in  a 
state  favorable  for  preserving  markings  made  upon  it. 
"We  thus  learn  that  in  very  ancient,  if  not  the  oldest, 
periods  of  our  earth's  history,  birds  of  gigantic  dimen- 
sions, and  many  of  smaller  size,  have  lived  in  Europe 
and  in  North  America,  or  rather,  perhaps,  in  islands  in 
a  northern  archipelago,  whose  shores,  after  many  alter- 
nations,— after  being  buried  deep  under  water  and  lifted 
high  into  air, — have  at  last  settled  for  the  present  into 
the  sandstones  of  Cheshire  and  Warwickshire  and  cor- 
responding beds  in  Germany  and  North  America. 

Reptiles  are,  in  their  mode  of  living,  intermediate  be- 
tween quadrupeds  and  fishes.  Cold-blooded,  or,  in  other 
words,  needing  only  a  slow  aeration  of  the  blood,  they 
can  exist  for  some  time  without  taking  in  fresh  breath ; 
and  some  of  them  are  so  contrived  as  to  breathe,  as  fishes 
do,  by  exposing  the  blood  to  aerated  water  in  gills. 
There  are  many  varieties  of  reptiles  still  living;  their 
habits  and  ways  of  living  are  distinct  from  those  of 
higher  animals,  and  they  include  inhabitants  of  land  and 
water. 

22 


254  TH3   PICTURES   IN    THE   BOOK. 

Extinct  reptiles  are  exceedingly  numerous,  and  include 
varieties  quite  unknown  in  the  living  state.  Thus,  there 
are  flying  species  found  fossil,  and  there  are  also  some 
adapted  to  reside  permanently  in  the  sea.  Others  again 
there  are  exceedingly  remarkable  in  structure,  and  very 
characteristic  of  certain  volumes  of  the  Stone  Library. 

Of  all  the  extinct  reptiles,  perhaps  the  most  different 
from  any  animal  now  living  were  the  lofty  giants  of  the 
forest  and  tenants  of  the  air  :  the  latter,  indeed,  vampire- 
like,  darkened  the  sky  with  their  wide  outspread  wings. 
Some  of  the  former  were  not  only  as  bulky  as  the  ele- 
phant, although  with  a  more  elongated  body  and  a  croco- 
dilian head,  but  they  stood  erect  on  legs  far  higher  in 
proportion  than  those  of  any  existing  reptile.  We  are 
in  the  habit  of  regarding  all  reptiles  as  creeping,  or 
moving  with  the  body  almost  touching  the  ground ;  but 
in  these  creatures  we  have  some  varieties,  of  portentous 
bulk,  walking  over  the  earth  like  veritable  lords  of  crea- 
tion,— some  feeding  on  trees,  and  others  preying  on  the 
smaller  reptiles  and  other  animals  of  their  time.  Asso- 
ciated with  them  were  crocodiles,  and  probably  lizards, 
like  those  still  living. 

But  these  singular  and  eccentric,  perhaps  repulsive, 
animals,  which  seem  to  have  been  the  principal  inhabit- 
ants of  the  land  of  their  time,  are  neither  the  oldest, 
nor  are  they  the  most  curiously  strange,  examples  of 
creative  power  in  this  department  of  the  animal  kingdom. 
During  the  deposit  of  the  beds  of  sandstone  now  quar- 
ried at  Liverpool,  there  lived  on  the  land  then  existing 
in  the  neighborhood  a  varied  group  of  gigantic  frog-like 
reptiles,  whose  fore  limbs  were  small,  but  the  hinder 


THE    PRE-ADAM1TE   WORLD.  255 

paws  of  such  dimensions  as  to  leave  prints  in  the  sand 
occupying  nearly  a  square  foot  of  surface  each.  The 
head  was  large,  broad,  and  flat,  and  almost  like  that  of 
the  crocodile,  but  intermediate  between  it  and  the  frog. 
Probably  about  the  same  time,  in  the  opposite  hemi- 
sphere, there  were  creatures  nearly  as  large,  approaching 
the  turtles  more  than  the  frogs  in  their  structure,  but 
real  quadrupeds, — walkers,  that  is,  on  four  equal  legs, — 
and  true  reptiles,  but  by  no  means  creeping  things. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  because  in  this  outline 
mention  is  made  only  of  the  more  singular  and  less  fami- 
liar forms,  there  were  no  others  living,  and  no  repetition, 
under  various  conditions,  of  the  general  types  of  struc- 
ture. Very  few  fossils  are  found  in  those  sandstones  in 
which  have  been  retained  the  footprints  that  are  so  re- 
markable; but  other  footprints,  both  of  smaller  lizard-like 
reptiles  and  of  birds,  are  there  very  common.  Some  of 
these  markings  may  have  belonged  to  small  quadrupeds ; 
for  we  know  there  were  some  such  animals  in  the  rocks 
containing  bones  of  the  gigantic  land-reptiles.  The 
illustrations  that  teach  us  the  nature  of  land-animals 
are  very  obscure  and  very  few  in  number,  and  we  must 
not  judge  of  Nature  by  the  amount  of  evidence  hitherto 
collected  in  this  inquiry. 

At  a  comparatively  early  period  in  the  earth's  history, 
reptiles  inhabited  the  air  like  birds,  some  of  them  only 
occasionally,  perhaps,  touching  the  earth.  The  bones  of 
such  creatures,  as  we  have  said,  indicate  dimensions  of 
the  largest  size,  as  compared  with  winged  birds  adapted 
for  flight.  The  greatest  width  across  the  expanded  wing- 
membrane,  from  tip  to  tip,  amounts,  in  some  cases,  to 


256  THE   PICTURES   IN    THE   BOOK. 

more  than  twenty  feet,  and  the  head  was  exceedingly 
large  and  long  in  proportion  to  the  body.  No  remains 
of  these  creatures  have  been  found  in  the  sandstones 
with  the  footmarks  just  alluded  to;  but  they  are  common 
in  all  newer  deposits  as  far  as  the  chalk.  They  seem  to 
have  been  able  to  swim,  and  perhaps  to  dive;  and  they 
were  certainly  reptiles  of  prey. 

In  addition  to  the  land  and  air  species,  we  also  find 
fossil  a  considerable  and  interesting  group  of  marine 
reptiles.  These,  too,  were  some  of  them  very  gigantic, 
approaching  even  the  whales  in  this  respect,  while  there 
is  every  probability  that  they  were  much  more  fierce. 
Unlike  the  ordinary  hard  coat  of  mail  that  we  find  cover- 
ing most  known  reptiles,  and  that  appears  also  to  have 
belonged  to  those  in  a  fossil  state,  the  marine  species  were 
soft-skinned,  and  exhibit  strength  rather  for  attack  than 
defence.  There  are  two  principal  groups,  one  approach- 
ing much  more  nearly  to  the  true  fishes  than  the  other. 
The  one  well  known  as  the  Ichthyosaur,  or  fish-lizard,  has 
been  handed  down  to  us  in  unusual  perfection,  many  com- 
plete skeletons  having  been  worked  out  of  their  stony 
beds,  and  numerous  indications  given  even  of  the  skin 
and  the  contents  of  the  stomach. 

The  Plesiosaur,  although  more  nearly  a  lizard,  as  its 
name  implies,  would  seem  to  have  been  even  less  like  any 
existing  animal  than  its  companion.  It  has  been  com- 
pared to  a  serpent  in  a  turtle's  shell;  but  in  truth,  though 
the  neck  was  exceedingly  long  and  the  head  that  of 
a  lizard,  the  body  was  smooth  and  naked,  the  tail  not 
very  long,  and  the  extremities  like  the  paddles  of  a 
whale.  Some  of  the  specimens  seem  to  indicate  an  ani- 


THE   PRE-ADAMITE   WORLD.  257 

mal  as  much  as  thirty  feet  long,  and  the  entire  and  undis- 
turbed skeletons  of  many  individuals,  of  various  sizes 
and  different  proportions,  are  to  be  found  in  museums. 

At  present  almost  all  the  common  fishes  are  provided 
with  moderately  hard  complete  skeletons,  and  are  covered 
with  scales  usually  small  and  thin.  Most  of  the  fish 
whose  remains  are  found  fossil  are,  however,  remarkable 
for  having  had  cartilaginous  instead  of  bony  skeletons. 
They  were  enclosed  in  a  bony  box,  coated  with  enamel, 
by  means  of  which  the  whole  animal  was  defended  against 
powerful  enemies.  Few  fishes  of  this  kind  have  been 
found  in  modern  waters;  but  the  "bony  pike"  of  the 
North  American  lakes  and  rivers  is  a  fair  illustration  of 
these  knights  of  ancient  times.  The  fishes  whose  re- 
mains are  found  fossil  offer  nothing  remarkable  in  regard 
to  size,  many  existing  species  being  larger  than  any 
known  extinct  kinds.  But  in  strangeness  of  form, 
among  those  enclosed  in  a  coat  of  mail,  the  oldest 
species  have  hardly  since  been  rivalled.  The  bony  plates 
are  very  large,  and  their  shapes  such  as  accurately  to 
adapt  them  to  enclose  the  small  body  of  the  animal 
between  back-plate  and  breast-plate.  One  kind,  called 
Pterichthys  (the  wing-fish),  had  strong  spines,  like  arms, 
placed  near  the  head,  and  a  very  curious  tail,  tapering 
and  flattened,  almost  like  that  of  a  beaver.  The  head 
was  defended  by  a  kind  of  helmet  joining  on  to  the  back. 

Exceedingly  abundant  in  the  old  rocks,  these  fishes 
seem  gradually  to  have  become  fewer  and  less  important, 
being  replaced  latterly  by  the  scale-covered  fish  of  modern 
times.  Sharks  and  Rays,  however,  seem  always  to  have 
existed,  and  were  generally  common.  They  left  behind 

22* 


258  THE   PICTURES   IN    THE   BOOK. 

them  not  only  teeth,  but  bony  and  enamelled  spines,  and 
even  scales, — these  being  more  permanent  than  modern 
scales,  though  often  quite  detached,  and  never  connecting 
into  complete  armor. 

There  are  several  curious  animals  now  living,  large  and 
strong  enough  to  prey  even  upon  fish,  but  belonging  to  a 
group  whose  nervous  structure  places  them  in  a  lower  posi- 
tion in  the  series  of  animals.  The  cuttle-fish,  of  which 
there  are  many  kinds  round  our  own  shores  and  in  the 
Mediterranean,  often  attain  a  very  large  size.  Some  of 
them  possess,  when  living,  a  curious  oval  flattened  plate, 
called  (not  very  improperly)  "the  bone,"  which  is  con- 
stantly found  washed  up  on  the  sea-shore,  quite  detached 
from  the  animal.  Many  of  them  have  a  black  fluid, 
which  they  are  able  to  throw  out  and  thereby  darken  the 
water  when  they  wish  either  to  escape  or  confuse  their 
prey. 

The  Nautilus  occupies  a  shell  divided  into  many  small 
compartments,  each  of  which  is  pierced  with  a  hole  of 
moderate  size,  and  all  of  which  are  crossed  by  a  tube. 
The  animal  belonging  to  this  shell  is  a  kind  of  cuttle- 
fish, and  the  whole  shell  serves  as  a  float  to  the  creature, 
which  inhabits  only  the  outermost  chamber,  the  rest 
being  full  of  air. 

It  is  not  a  little  interesting  to  find  that,  of  animals 
covered  with  shells,  these  cuttle-fish  seem  to  have  been 
at  all  times  the  most  characteristic.  They  have  perhaps 
been  more  readily  preserved  than  others,  owing  to  various 
causes;  but,  at  any  rate,  it  is  certain  that,  in  the  older 
rocks,  shells  built  upon  a  principle  almost  the  same  as 
that  of  the  nautilus  are  so  incredibly  abundant  and  so 


THE    PRE-ADAMITE    WORLD.  259 

wonderfully  varied  as  to  make  it  certain  that  their 
owners  played  a  very  important  part  in  their  day. 
Whether  they  were  accompanied  by  the  commoner  kind 
of  shells,  which  have  not  been  preserved,  or  whether  the 
conditions  of  deposit  were  unfavorable  for  these  latter,  we 
cannot  now  tell.  The  geological  record  is  imperfect.  The 
illustrations  of  particular  kinds  of  animals  are  numerous 
and  minute,  while  there  are  few  indications  of  the  ex- 
istence of  the  others.  The  Ammonites  of  geologists  in- 
clude a  wonderful  variety  of  curious  shells,  nearly  re- 
sembling the  nautilus  in  having  a  multitude  of  chambers. 
They  have  been  found  of  all  sizes,  from  a  coach-wheel 
down  to  a  pin's  head;  and  where  the  ordinary  forms  are 
absent,  there  are  other  shells  evidently  of  the  same  kind, 
and  differing  only  in  matters  of  detail.  So  also  the 
Belemnite, — the  hard  part  or  bone  of  another  extinct 
species  of  cuttle-fish, — though  very  different  from  the 
corresponding  part  of  known  living  specimens,  evidently 
answered  a  similar  purpose.  It  is  therefore  clear  that 
these  curious  and,  for  the  most  part,  powerful  represent- 
atives of  a  class  of  animals  which  we  now  think  very 
little  of,  and  of  which  we  speak  slightingly, — identifying 
them  with  the  snails,  oysters,  and  limpets, — really  at  one 
time  played  a  part  hardly  subordinate  to  fishes,  being 
quite  as  active  and  perhaps  almost  as  intelligent.  Cer- 
tainly no  one  now  can  watch  them  in  the  sea,  and  notice 
their  restless  activity, — their  long  arms  covered  with 
suckers,  their  large  bright  eyes  always  on  the  look-out, 
their  powerful  jaws,  and  perfect  means  of  helping  them- 
selves and  supplying  every  important  want, — without 


260  THE   PICTURES   IN    THE    BOOK. 

feeling  satisfied  that  they  are  well  able  to  perform  their 
part  in  Nature. 

Shells,  being  very  easily  preserved  among  the  sand 
and  other  material  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea  or  near  a 
shore,  are  naturally  among  the  most  common  of  all 
Organic  Remains.  They  also,  and  for  the  same  reason, 
speak  most  distinctly  as  to  the  fact  that  the  animals  now 
living  on  our  shores  and  in  the  sea  are  either  not  the 
actual  descendants  of  the  former  inhabitants,  or,  if  they 
are,  are  so  much  altered  by  time  and  circumstance  as 
not  to  show  any  family  resemblance.  They  resemble 
each  other,  in  fact,  only  in  the  way  that  the  shells  of  the 
British  shores  resemble  those  of  the  Indian  Archipelago. 
Both  series  evidently  served  the  same  purpose, — that  of 
sheltering  the  animal;  but  they  are  provided  with  differ- 
ent contrivances,  and  are  often  built  up  in  a  different 
manner,  because  the  circumstances  of  existence  are  ex- 
ceedingly distinct. 

Each  group  of  deposits  presents  its  own  group  of 
shells,  just  as  each  principal  district  of  the  earth  has  its 
characteristic  species.  In  each  case  a  few  of  the  species 
range  very  widely;  but  the  bulk  are  possessed  of  some 
marked  peculiarities,  and  cannot  be  removed  without 
either  losing  these  or  dying. 

What  we  have  here  said  of  shells  applies  equally  well 
to  all  other  animals,  and  even  to  all  vegetable  produc- 
tions ;  and  in  proportion  as  they  range  widely  now  over 
the  earth's  surface,  so  do  they  seem  to  have  extended 
far  back  in  time,  while  the  kinds  that  are  limited  in 
space  are  very  local.  The  variety  of  forms  in  these  lower 
animals  is  now  very  great,  and  has  been  in  old  time  much 


THE   PRE-ADAMITE    WORLD.  261 

greater;  but  still  there  are  certain  general  principles  and 
laws  that  seem  to  have  governed  them  always;  and  these 
are  so  evidently  related  to  the  fitness  of  each  created 
being  for  the  time  and  place  of  its  existence,  that  we 
learn  to  trust  implicitly  to  such  relations,  and  assume  the 
conditions  of  life  from  the  animal,  or  the  structure  of 
the  living  being  from  known  conditions  of  existence, 
without  fearing  the  possibility  of  error. 

When,  then,  we  find  in  almost  all  deposits,  whether  of 
limestone,  sandstone,  or  clay,  or  any  mixture  of  the  three, 
the  remains  of  species  of  animals  once  inhabiting  the  sea, 
preserved  without  injury,  and  often  very  plentiful, — and 
when  we  discover  that  each  group  of  deposits  is,  on  the 
whole,  characterized  by  some  special  assemblage  of  animal 
or  vegetable  remains  peculiar  to  itself,  and  nowhere  ex- 
actly repeated, — though  we  must  suppose  similar  states  of 
climate  and  temperature  to  have  been  often  repeated, — 
geologists  deduce  one  of  those  broad  generalizations  some- 
times called  Laws  of  Nature.  The  law  thus  discovered 
being  in  perfect  harmony  with  all  that  is  now  known  of 
the  distribution  of  life,  we  may  with  greater  reason  accept 
it  and  employ  it  in  further  inquiries. 

From  the  study  and  application  of  this  law,  very  large 
and  important  natural-history  results  have  been  obtained. 
Learning  first  by  careful  observation  the  various  remains 
most  abundant  and  most  characteristic  of  the  different 
deposits  of  one  country,  and  working  them  into  a  regular 
series,  these  have  been  compared  with  corresponding  series 
from  another  country  adjacent.  From  this  comparison, 
bearing  in  mind  the  difference  of  mineral  character,  the 
relative  age  of  the  two  deposits  has  been  determined  -}  and, 


262  THE   PICTURES   IN    THE   BOOK. 

in  some  cases,  independent  evidence  has  confirmed  the  de- 
cision thus  made.  With  the  peculiar  fossils  of  a  deposit  are 
always  mixed  up  a  number  that  are  common  to  other  de- 
posits, above  or  below;  but  on  the  whole,  as  we  have  said, 
there  is  a  nucleus  that,  with  a  little  attention  and  study, 
may  be  recognized  with  much  certainty.  Stated  in  other 
words,  this  means  that  fossils  are  characteristic  of  form- 
ations. 

It  is  a  fact,  settled  by  observation,  that  fossils  may 
safely  be  used  to  identify  such  deposits  as  were  made  in 
various  places  nearly  at  the  same  time.  In  this  way  also 
it  has  been  found  possible  to  prepare  geological  maps  for 
whole  continents,  that  shall  communicate  a  large  amount 
of  truth  and  not  much  chance  of  serious  error, — the  rela- 
tive position  of  all  principal  beds  being  made  out  by  the 
comparison  of  the  fossils  found  in  them. 

All  kinds  of  fossils  are  useful  for  these  purposes;  but 
it  will  necessarily  happen  that  the  remains  most  easily 
recognized  and  least  easily  injured — those  most  abundant 
and  most  complete  in  themselves,  and  not  the  rarest  or  the 
most  abnormal — will  be  the  most  generally  useful.  Thus, 
sea-shells,  star-fishes,  sea-eggs,  and  sea-urchins,  crabs  and 
other  crustaceans,  corals,  and — when  the  microscope  is  at 
hand — those  minute  specks,  too  small  to  be  crushed  and 
too  delicate  to  be  destroyed,  called  Foraminifera,  are  all 
extremely  useful,  and  often  far  more  so  than  strange  and 
quaint  fishes,  reptiles,  birds,  and  quadrupeds.  All  these 
are  valuable  when  in  sufficient  abundance;  but  number 
and  variety  are  more  important  than  size  and  unfamiliar 
structure. 

The  pre- Adamite  world  includes,  then,  a  long  series  of 


THE   PRE-ADAMITE   WORLD.  263 

creations  of  beings,  each  series  adapted  to  the  exigencies 
of  its  own  day.  If,  as  we  suppose  from  the  study  of 
fossils,  there  were  once  warm,  swampy  islands  in  these 
latitudes,  instead  of  a  large  continent,  we  might  have  in 
our  temperate  zone  a  growth  of  tapirs,  antelopes,  and 
other  animals  fitted  for  the  climate, — together  with 
monkeys,  snakes,  and  vultures.  If,  on  the  contrary,  the 
ice  reached  far  down  from  the  Poles  towards  Southern 
Europe,  and  the  climate  was  less  genial,  there  was  a  cor- 
responding supply  of  bears  and  the  larger  quadrupeds, 
adapted  to  exposure  by  warm  coats  of  fur,  and  still 
finding  sufficient  food  in  the  twigs  of  trees.  If,  again, 
there  was  deep  water  as  now  in  the  mid- Atlantic,  abun- 
dant supplies  of  minute  foraminiferous  shells  like  those 
in  the  chalk  covered  the  ocean-floor;  while  if  the  water 
were  more  shallow,  perchance  the  remains  of  sharks  and 
other  strange  marine  creatures  might  be  accumulated, 
together  with  a  rich  harvest  of  shells  and  shoal-animals. 
Or,  lastly,  if  a  river  had  emptied  itself  in  the  neighbor- 
hood, there  would  be  marks  of  fresh  water  and  the 
remains  of  land  vegetation,  insects,  and  land-animals  alone, 
or  mixed  with  marine  remains.  All  the  peculiarities  of  de- 
posit would  be  marked,  and  most  of  them  could  be  dis- 
covered, by  the  nature  of  the  organic  remains. 

No  one  who  has  not  examined  for  himself  can  conceive 
the  vast  extent — the  incredible  wealth  and  profusion — of 
Nature  in  this  perpetual  production  of  new  forms  and 
structures  from  time  to  time,  as  circumstances  have 
changed  throughout  the  world's  history.  Of  all  these  a 
multitude  of  examples,  no  doubt,  remains ;  but  what  are 
they  in  proportion  to  the  number  that  is  lost  ?  We  grope 


264  THE   PICTURES    IN    THE   BOOK. 

about  in  the  dark,  picking  up  here  a  little  and  there  a 
little;  but  we  can  never  hope  to  remove  and  bring  to 
light  all  that  is  left,  and  there  must  remain  to  the  last, 
in  the  great  burying-place  of  Nature,  a  far  larger  series 
than  the  most  searching  investigation  of  man  will  ever 
bring  to  light.  Could  we  even  attain  to  a  complete  know- 
ledge of  organic  remains,  we  should  have  made  but  one 
step,  and  that  an  imperfect  and  incomplete  step,  towards 
an  acquaintance  with  the  life  that  has  passed  away;  for 
there  still  must'  remain  large  gaps  to  be  supplied  of  such 
animals  as  pass  out  of  existence  and  leave  no  durable 
skeleton  or  hard  part  capable  of  conservation. 

We  have  already  alluded  to  this  subject  in  a  previous 
page  as  illustrating  what  has  been  well  called  "  the  im- 
perfection of  the  geologic  record."  It  is  right  that  the 
young  geologist  should  know  the  exact  nature  and  value 
of  the  weapons  and  instruments  put  into  his  hand,  and 
for  this  purpose  the  limits  of  the  evidence  yielded  by 
fossils  must  be  learnt,  as  well  as  the  extent  of  that  evi- 
dence. There  is  amply  sufficient  positive  knowledge  to 
occupy  all  our  thoughts,  and  quite  enough  gaps  left  to 
teach  caution  and  humility. 


F&BT 


. 


THE  GREAT  STONE  BOOK 
PART  V. 


Chapter  %  Jifteijr. 

GLITTERING    TREASURES    OF   THE   EARTH. 

THE  surface  of  the  earth,  the  air,  and  the  shores  and 
depths  of  the  ocean,  afford  innumerable  objects  of  beauty 
and  interest.  But  the  earth  also  contains  within  its 
bosom  marvellous  and  beautiful  things,  belonging  to  that 
kingdom  of  nature  in  which  life  plays  no  part,  and  pos- 
sessing even  a  more  tangible  and  direct  value  than  the 
others.  The  earth  yields  its  rich  treasures  of  minerals, 
metals,  and  precious  stones,  serving  as  convenient  repre- 
sentatives of  money  and  property;  and  these,  when  their 
beauty  of  appearance  in  any  way  corresponds  with  the 
difficulty  of  obtaining  them,  are  objects  of  ambition  to 
great  potentates,  as  well  as  the  admiration  of  all  classes, 
including  among  their  votaries  the  poet  and  the  artist, 
the  man  of  science  and  the  man  of  fashion,  the  most 
civilized  races  and  the  uncultivated  savage. 

Of  these  objects,  let  us  confine  our  attention  here  to 
one  group.  Let  us  talk  of  gems,  precious  stones,  and 
jewels,  leaving  the  metals,  the  many  valuable  minerals, 
that  are  less  sightly  than  gems,  and  the  curious  fossils, 
buried  records  of  former  states  of  existence.  Let  us 
consider  those  stones  selected  as  ornaments  of  the  crown, 
the  cabinet,  and  the  toilet,  the  gems  that  glitter  before 

267 


268        THE  TREASURES  CONTAINED  IN  THE  BOOK. 

our  eyes  on  gala-days,  or  are  seen  in  museums  and  in  the 
shops  of  the  jewellers. 

There  is  great  variety  in  the  literature  of  gems.  There 
is  the  natural  history,  and  what  we  may  call  the  personal 
history,  the  investigation  of  the  optical  properties,  the 
story  of  the  mechanical  preparation,  of  the  commercial 
use,  and  of  the  money  value.  There  is  the  chemistry 
and  the  geography,  the  science  and  the  art,  the  religion 
and  the  mysticism,  of  jewels :  each  might  serve  as  the 
heading  of  a  chapter;  but  we  will  endeavor  to  give  an 
idea  of  the  whole  subject,  without  introducing  systematic 
divisions. 

Of  all  gems  the  DIAMOND  is  the  recognized  queen, 
the  most  beautiful,  the  most  valuable,  the  most  durable, 
and  the  most  useful;  the  hardest,  though  capable  of 
being  split;  the  symbol  of  justice,  innocence,  constancy, 
faith,  and  strength.  According  to  a  Jewish  tradition, 
the  diamond  in  the  breastplate  of  Aaron  became  dark 
and  dim  when  any  person  justly  accused  of  a  crime  ap- 
peared before  him,  and  blazed  more  brightly  when  the 
accusation  was  void  of  foundation.  In  the  possession  of 
any  one  the  diamond  was  supposed,  in  former  times,  to 
mark  the  approach  of  poison  by  a  damp  exudation,  and 
to  be  a  sure  defence  against  plagues  and  sorcery.  Taken 
internally,  it  was  believed  to  be  itself  a  poison. 

No  history  dates  back  to  the  period  at  which  diamonds 
were  first  discovered;  but  we  are  told  on  classical  author- 
ity that  a  boy,  a  native  of  Crete,  bearing  the  name 
afterwards  given  to  this  precious  gem,  was  one  of  the 
attendants  of  the  infant  Jupiter  in  his  cradle.  The  other 
attendants  being  promoted  to  be  constellations,  Diamond 


GLITTERING    TREASURES    OF   THE    EARTH.         269 

was  transformed  into  the  hardest  and  most  brilliant  sub- 
stance in  nature.  In  Hindu  mythology  the  diamond 
plays  an  important  part. 

Diamonds  are  singularly  associated  with  gold  in  the 
earth,  but  all  that  come  into  the  market  as  gems  have 
been  obtained  either  from  India  or  Brazil.  The  account 
in  the  "Arabian  Nights"  of  Sinbad  the  Sailor  obtaining 
diamonds  by  fishing  for  them  with  pieces  of  raw  meat 
is  repeated  as  a  fact  of  Indian  statistics  by  the  old  Vene- 
tian traveller  Marco  Polo.  "The  persons,"  he  says, 
"who  are  in  quest  of  diamonds  take  their  stand  near  the 
mouth  of  a  certain  cavern,  and  from  thence  cast  down 
several  pieces  of  flesh,  which  the  eagles  and  storks  pur- 
sue into  the  valleys  and  carry  off  with  them  to  the  tops 
of  the  rocks.  Thither  the  men  immediately  ascend,  and, 
recovering  the  pieces  of  meat,  frequently  find  diamonds 
adhering  to  them."  The  more  ordinary  mode  of  obtain- 
ing them  at  present  is  by  washing  away  the  earth  and 
stones  from  the  gravel  in  which  they  are  found. 

The  first  Brazilian  diamonds  were  discovered  by  acci- 
dent just  a  century  and  a  quarter  ago.  They  also  are 
found  in  the  surface-gravel,  from  which  they  are  sepa- 
rated by  water  in  nearly  the  same  manner  as  in  India. 
Upwards  of  seventy  pounds'  weight  of  these  valuable 
jewels  were  collected  and  brought  over  to  Europe  in  one 
year,  shortly  after  the  discovery  of  the  deposit ;  and  it  is 
estimated  that  some  two  tons'  weight,  valued  at  sixteen 
millions  sterling,  had  been  obtained  from  the  South  Ame- 
rican mines  up  to  the  year  1850.  So  abundantly  are 
they  there  distributed  that  they  have  been  picked  up 
with  vegetable-roots  in  gardens,  the  stones  in  the  roads 
23* 


270    THE  TREASURES  CONTAINED  IN  THE  BOOK. 

have  contained  them,  and  the  fowls  have  swallowed  them 
to  assist  digestion. 

Marvellous  as  it  may  seem,  diamond  is  but  coal  in  a 
crystalline  form,  and  is  hardly  even  so  pure  as  some  kinds 
of  anthracite,  or  stone  coal,  found  in  Wales.  Like  coal, 
the  diamond  burns,  or  combines  with  oxygen,  though 
only  at  a  very  high  temperature,  and  the  whole  substance 
then  disappears  in  carbonic  acid  gas.  Unlike  coal,  how- 
ever, diamonds  are  usually  transparent,  possessing  a  pecu- 
liar lustre,  hence  called  adamantine,  and  reflecting  light 
from  their  inner  surface.  The  light  entering  a  diamond 
is  bent  more  than  in  passing  into  any  other  substance  in 
nature.  Diamond  is  electric,  even  when  rough,  and  pos- 
sesses phosphoric  and  luminous  properties  after  being 
exposed  to  the  sun  for  some  time.  It  is  generally  of 
crystalline  form,  but  coated  over  in  the  mine  by  a  thick 
crust,  exceedingly  hard.  Still,  even  the  children,  in 
countries  where  they  abound,  can  generally  detect  the 
valuable  gems  in  their  concealment. 

Diamonds  require  very  careful  cutting,  so  as  to  dimi- 
nish their  weight  as  little  as  possible  consistently  with 
insuring  the  greatest  amount  of  internal  reflecting  sur- 
face belonging  to  their  form.  Their  value  as  gems  depends 
greatly  on  the  cutting,  and  this,  of  course,  to  some  ex- 
tent, on  the  original  shape.  What  are  technically  called 
"brilliants"  are  those  stones  that  can  be  cut  without 
serious  loss  into  the  form  of  two  pyramids  placed  base  to 
base.  Of  these  pyramids  a  slice  of  the  one  intended  to 
be  presented  to  the  eye  is  cut  off,  while  the  other,  serving 
to  reflect  light  from  its  internal  surface,  although  also 
flattened  slightly,  is  much  the  more  nearly  pointed  of  the 


GLITTERING   TREASURES   OF   THE   EARTH.         271 

two.  In  fine  brilliants  the  upper  pyramid  has  thirty-two 
facets,  or  sides,  and  the  lower  twenty-four.  Nearly  half 
the  diamond  is  often  wasted  in  cutting  a  brilliant;  but  with- 
out it  a  fine  stone  can  hardly  be  considered  as  presenting 
the  real  beauty  that  belongs  to  it.  When,  however,  the 
form  of  the  stone  is  such  as  not  readily  to  admit  of  this 
treatment,  only  one  pyramid  is  cut,  and  the  base  is  im- 
bedded in  the  setting,  making  what  is  called  a  rose  dia- 
mond. When  there  is  a  double  pyramid,  the  setting 
simply  clasps  the  girdle,  or  junction  of  the  bases  of  the 
two  pyramids,  and  the  two  sets  of  faces  are  both  exposed 
to  the  action  of  light.  Besides  these  two  kinds,  some 
diamonds  are  cut  flat,  with  irregular  facets:  these  are 
called  table  diamonds,  and  their  value,  weight  for  weight, 
is  very  inferior  to  that  of  roses  and  brilliants. 

Diamond-cutting  is  a  business  in  the  hands  of  Jews, 
and  is  chiefly  carried  on  in  Amsterdam,  where,  it  is  said, 
ten  thousand  persons  are  more  or  less  dependent  on  it  as 
an  occupation.  Owing  to  the  extreme  hardness  of  the 
stone,  the  only  means  of  acting  on  it  are  by  rubbing  two 
faces  of  different  diamonds  together,  or  cutting  the  stone 
by  a  circular  steel  saw  covered  with  diamond  dust. 

Diamonds  are  not  always  colorless,  though  many  of 
those  most  highly  valued  are  so.  Some  few  that  are 
known  of  fair  size  and  clear  distinct  tints  are  even  more 
costly  than  those  of  purest  white.  There  is  a  difference 
in  the  estimate  of  color.  Thus,  the  celebrated  blue  dia- 
mond of  Mr.  Hope,  weighing  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
seven  grains,  and  the  green  diamond  of  the  crown  of 
Saxony,  the  finest  known  colored  specimens,  are  regarded 
as  more  valuable  than  if  they  were  white.  The  yellow 


272   THE  TREASURES  CONTAINED  IN  THE  BOOK. 

varieties,  on  the  other  hand,  generally  sell  at  lower  prices 
than  stones  of  equal  weight  without  color. 

The  largest  diamond  known  is  an  uncut  stone  belong- 
ing to  the  Rajah  of  Mattam,  in  Borneo.  It  weighs  more 
than  two  ounces  and  a  quarter  troy,  but  would  probably 
be  very  greatly  reduced  if  properly  cut.  It  is  egg- 
shaped,  and  indented  at  the  smaller  end.  The  largest 
regularly  cut  diamond  is  a  rose,  and  of  yellowish  tint:  it 
weighs  one  hundred  and  thirty-nine  and  a  half  carats,*  or 
nearly  an  ounce.  The  finest  brilliant  is  the  Pitt  or  Re- 
gent diamond,  now  in  the  French  crown.  It  originally 
weighed  four  hundred  and  ten  carats,  but  has  been  re- 
duced to  one  hundred  and  thirty-seven  by  cutting,  and 
was  sold  to  the  Regent  of  France  for  about  one  hundred 
thousand  pounds.  Our  Koh-i-noor,  now  only  one  hun- 
dred and  two  carats,  is  believed  to  have  been  part  of  the 
largest  real  diamond  recorded,  the  unbroken  stone  having 
weighed  nine  hundred  carats.  It  is  supposed  that  the 
great  Russian  diamond  called  the  Orloff,  now  weighing 
one  hundred  and  ninety-three  carats,  was  originally 
another  part  of  the  same  stone. 

Diamonds  are  not  always  transparent,  nor  are  they 
only  valuable  for  ornamentation.  A  vast  number  are 
used  for  watches,  and  others  for  cutting  glass.  There  is 
a  ready  demand  for  them  to  almost  any  extent;  and,  in 
spite  of  the  large  supply,  the  price  is  by  no  means 
falling. 


*  The  carat  is  the  weight  used  all  over  the  world  to  estimate  the 
diamond.  It  originated  in  India,  and  is  equal  to  about  three  and 
one-sixth  grains  troy,  six  carats  being  nineteen  grains  troy. 


GLITTERING   TREASURES   OP   THE   EARTH.         1^73 

Next  to  the  diamond  in  value,  in  beauty,  and  in  hard- 
ness, and  in  some  cases  rivalling  or  even  excelling  it  in 
the  two  former  properties,  are  the  gems  obtained  from 
crystallized  clay.  Strange  that  coal  and  clay,  the  two 
least  likely  substances  to  possess  any  intimate  relations 
with  beauty  and  hardness,  should,  in  their  crystalline 
forms,  excel  all  others  in  both  these  respects!  Not 
more  strange,  however,  than  true. 

Under  the  name  of  RUBY  and  SAPPHIRE  the  red  and 
blue  varieties  of  crystallized  clay  are  well  known  to  the 
world.  They  are  almost  all  obtained  from  Pegu,  Ava, 
and  the  island  of  Ceylon, — a  singularly  limited  region 
for  a  mineral  which  one  might  expect  would  be  widely 
distributed.  Like  the  diamond,  they  are  obtained  by 
washing  gravel,  and  all  the  varieties  occur  in  the  same 
district.  These  varieties  include  the  Oriental  sapphire, 
the  Oriental  ruby,  the  opalescent  ruby,  the  star  ruby,  the 
green,  yellow,  and  white  sapphires,  and  the  Oriental 
amethyst.  Most  of  them  are  extremely  rare,  and  all 
the  finest  specimens  are  believed  to  be  still  retained  in 
the  East.  As,  however,  these  stones  of  Eastern  princes 
are  rarely  cut,  and  no  doubt  many  of  them  would  be 
found  affected  with  flaws,  their  real  money  value,  if  in 
the  market,  would  be  very  inferior  to  their  estimated 
value. 

There  is  a  useful  mineral  of  extreme  hardness — the 
corundum  of  commerce,  from  which  the  hardest  and 
finest  emery  is  obtained — which  is  an  imperfect  and 
opaque  crystallization,  of  the  same  origin  as  the  ruby  and 
sapphire.  The  gems  themselves  are  clear,  though  rarely 
colorless.  Small  specimens  are  much  less  valuable  rn 


274   THE  TREASURES  CONTAINED  IN  THE  BOOK. 

proportion  than  larger  sizes,  for  they  are  far  more  abun- 
dant; but  a  perfect  ruby  of  five  carats  is  worth  twice  as 
much  as  a  diamond  of  the  same  weight,  and  one  of  ten 
carats  three  times  as  much. 

The  ruby  was  called  by  the  Greeks  anthrax,  or  live 
coal,  from  its  brilliant  blood-red  color  and  exquisite 
beauty,  which,  like  the  diamond,  is  rather  improved  than 
diminished  when  seen  by  artificial  light.  From  the 
intense  blaze  of  blood-red,  the  colors  of  the  ruby  pale 
down  by  admixtures  of  blue  through  rose-red  to  lilac. 
Exposed  to  the  rays  of  the  sun,  or  heated,  the  ruby,  like 
the  diamond,  becomes  phosphoric.  In  the  Middle  Ages 
it  was  believed  to  be  an  antidote  to  poison,  to  dispel  bad 
dreams,  and  to  warn  its  owner  of  misfortune  by  a  dark- 
ening of  its  color  until  the  danger  was  past. 

There  is  a  very  celebrated  ruby  set  under  the  back 
cross  in  the  crown  of  England.  It  remains  in  its  natural 
shape — that  of  a  heart — and  has  received  no  polish. 
Its  color  is  that  of  a  Morella  cherry,  and  it  is  semi- 
transparent.  It  was  brought  from  Spain  by  Edward 
the  Black  Prince,  and  was  afterwards  worn  by  Henry 
the  Fifth  at  Agincourt.  Other  rubies  of  very  large  size 
are  recorded,  but  few  of  them  are  polished,  and  fewer 
still  are  cut. 

The  sapphire  is  an  exquisite  blue  variety  of  ruby,  soft, 
rich,  velvety,  and  delicate  in  the  extreme  by  day,  but 
losing  much  beauty  by  artificial  light,  even  sometimes 
changing  its  tint.  Occasionally  it  sparkles  with  great 
vividness  in  the  sun,  as  a  star  with  distinct  rays,  but  such 
stones  are  only  semi-transparent.  There  is  a  violet 
variety,  called  by  jewellers  the  Oriental  amethyst.  It 


GLITTERING   TREASURES   OF  THE   EARTH.         275 

is  a  gein  of  great  rarity  and  beauty,  and  takes  a  very  bril- 
liant polish,  owing  to  its  extreme  hardness. 

Like  the  ruby,  the  sapphire  was  held  by  the  ancients 
and  during  the  Middle  Ages  in  high  honor.  It  was  con- 
sidered emblematic  of  purity.  To  look  at  one  preserved 
the  eyesight ;  placed  on  the  brow,  it  stopped  haemorrhage. 
The  powder  of  sapphire  was  a  sovereign  remedy  against 
plague  and  poison,  and  if  merely  placed  over  the  mouth 
of  a  phial  containing  a  venomous  insect,  the  insect  died 
on  the  instant.  It  is  a  Jewish  superstition  that  the  first 
tables  of  the  law  given  by  God  to  Moses  were  of  this 
stone.  It  is  certain,  at  any  rate,  that  both  rubies  and 
sapphires  have  long  been  employed  in  the  East  to  en- 
grave upon,  notwithstanding  their  great  hardness. 

Who  has  not  looked  with  admiration  at  the  rich,  soft, 
lively  meadow-green  of  the  EMERALD?  It  is  a  gem 
which,  when  pure,  comes  next  in  value  to  those  hard, 
brilliant  stones  just  described;  but  large  specimens  with- 
out flaw  are  really  almost  unknown.  It  loses  nothing  by 
exposure  to  artificial  light. 

The  emerald  is  the  lightest  of  all  the  clear  valuable 
gems.  It  is  soft,  and  is  found  in  regular  crystals,  often 
with  the  rock  in  which  it  has  been  formed.  These  crys- 
tals are  long,  six-sided  prisms,  and,  though  formerly  found 
in  the  East,  are  now  met  with  only  in  Peru;  and,  indeed, 
it  is  only  of  late  years  that  even  this  resource  has  been 
available.  The  largest  stone  on  record  was  in  the  Great 
Exhibition  of  1851,  and  weighed  nearly  nine  ounces.  It 
measured  two  inches  in  length,  and  two  and  a  quarter 
inches  across. 

A  singular  superstition   has  at  all  times  attached  to 


276   THE  TREASURES  CONTAINED  IN  THE  BOOK. 

emerald-mines.  From  the  age  of  Pliny ,  when  the 
Scythians  obtained  these  stones,  to  our  own  times, 
there  is  a  belief  that  the  mines  are  guarded  by  de- 
mons, griffins,  and  wicked  spirits.  The  mine  "Las  Es- 
rneraldas,"  in  Peru,  could  not  be  visited  by  Mr.  Steven- 
son, "  owing  to  the  superstitious  dread  of  the  natives, 
who  assured  me  that  it  was  enchanted,  and  guarded  by 
a  dragon,  who  poured  forth  thunder  and  lightning  on 
those  who  dared  to  ascend  the  river"  that  led  to  the 
mine. 

In  the  East,  emeralds  are  admired  for  extent  of  sur- 
face rather  than  for  beauty  of  any  other  kind,  and  vast 
multitudes  were  sent  over  at  the  time  of  the  Great  Ex- 
hibition in  1851,  most  of  which  were  mere  slices  of  crys- 
tals marked  with  many  a  flaw.  Many  of  them  were  set 
as  the  ornaments  of  saddles  and  other  horse  and  ele- 
phant trappings,  and  others  were  in  jade  boxes  and  cups 
of  agate. 

The  emerald,  like  the  gems  already  mentioned,  has 
been  regarded  as  possessing  remarkable  properties,  re- 
storing sight  and  memory,  guarding  from  epilepsy,  put- 
ting evil  spirits  to  flight,  and,  if  unable  to  do  good, 
shivering  into  atoms;  for,  in  the  words  of  a  great  author- 
ity on  these  subjects,  "  Elle  doit  ou  lever  le  mal  ou  ceder 
comme  s'avouant  vaincue  par  le  plus  fort  dans  le  combat 
qu'elle  rend/'*  That  is,  it  ought  either  to  remove  the 
evil  or  acknowledge  itself  vanquished.  The  emerald 
taught  the  knowledge  of  secrets,  it  bestowed  eloquence, 

*  Boetius  de  Boot.    Trait6  des  Pierreries,  1.  ii.  ch.  53,  p.  253. 


GLITTERING   TREASURES   OP   THE   EARTH.         277 

and  it  increased  wealth,     Even  more  than  this,  we  have 
the  poet's  warrant  that 

It  is  a  gem  which  hath  the  power  to  show 
If  plighted  lovers  keep  their  faith  or  no: 
If  faithful,  it  is  like  the  leaves  of  spring; 
If  faithless,  like  those  leaves  when  withering. 

L.  E.  L. 

Such  are  the  recorded  qualities  of  this  beautiful  gem : 
we  may  worship  the  excellence  of  the  diamond,  and 
wonder  at  the  deep  mystery  of  the  ruby  or  the  cold 
brilliancy  of  the  sapphire,  but  no  one  can  fail  to  love  the 
soft  beauty  of  the  emerald. 

BERYL  is  a  mineral  much  more  commonly  found  im- 
pure and  cloudy  than  capable  of  use  as  a  gem.  When 
in  the  latter  state,  it  is  of  a  transparent  bluish-green  or 
sea-green  color,  passing  into  blue  by  many  shades.  It  is 
hence  called  aqua-marine.  It  resembles  in  many  re- 
spects the  emerald,  but  is  less  valued.  It  is  also  more 
widely  distributed.  Formerly  it  was  regarded  as  espe- 
cially efficacious  in  liver-complaints,  idleness,  and  stu- 
pidity. 

The  TOPAZ  is  a  beautiful  gem  of  bright  citron,  clear 
gold,  or  deep  orange-yellow  color,  sometimes  soft  and 
satin-like,  sometimes  hard  and  clear.  What  is  sometimes 
called  the  Oriental  topaz  is  really  a  yellow  sapphire; 
but  the  gems  properly  recognized  under  the  name  are 
mostly  from  Brazil,  though  also  found  in  Saxony  and 
elsewhere  in  Europe.  They  were  much  valued  by  the 
ancients,  as  well  for  medicinal  purposes  as  for  dispelling 
enchantments  and  calming  frenzy;  but  they  must  have 
24 


278       THE   TREASURES   CONTAINED    IN    THE   BOOK. 

been  especially  useful  if,  as  supposed,  they  strengthened 
the  intellect,  brightened  the  wit,  and  cured  the  bearer  of 
cowardice. 

Topaz  is  not  a  very  valuable  stone;  but  there  are  some 
varieties  of  color,  such  as  the  red,  occasionally  mistaken 
for  ruby,  and  the  blue,  which  are  of  great  beauty  and 
interest. 

GARNETS  are  comparatively  common  stones,  and  are 
much  used  for  ornamental  purposes.  They  vary  a  good 
deal  in  composition  and  color,  and  the  varieties  are 
known  by  many  names.  The  finest  of  all  is  the  Sorian 
or  Oriental  garnet,  called  generally  carbuncle.  Its  color 
is  a  rich  blood-red,  passing  into  violet,  but  acquiring  an 
orange  tinge  by  artificial  light.  Fine  specimens  might 
easily  pass  for  rubies,  if  they  were  not  readily  distin- 
guishable by  their  greatly  inferior  hardness.  It  is  often 
cut  in  facets,  and  takes  a  high  polish ;  and  the  resem- 
blance to  the  ruby  or  sapphire  group  of  gems  is  increased 
by  an  occasional  six-rayed  star  seen  in  the  paler  and 
bluer  specimens. 

Hyacinth  is  a  beautiful  orange  or  scarlet  garnet  found 
in  Brazil;  but  it  is  rare.  It  is  nearly  allied  to  Zircon, 
which  has  a  deep  honey  tint.  All  these  stones  are  com- 
paratively soft,  and  they  are  less  used  now  than  formerly. 
As  a  group,  they  were  once  valued  as  a  protection  against 
the  plague.  They  are  comparatively  inexpensive  jewels 
in  rings  and  bracelets. 

MOON-STONE,  sun-stone,  amazon-stone,  and  other  crys- 
talline varieties  of  the  mineral  called  felspar,  deserve 
notice  as  gems  which  occasionally  possess  a  considerable 
value.  The  moon-stone  is  translucent  and  opaline,  sun- 


GLITTERING   TREASURES   OP   THE   EARTH.         279 

stone  contains  spangles  of  mica  which  look  yellow  like 
gold  in  some  lights,  and  amazon-stone  is  a  fine  green 
crystal  with  a  beautiful  play  of  colors.  All  have  a  pecu- 
liar silky  appearance,  and  are  much  harder  than  the 
somewhat  similar  varieties  of  quartz  minerals,  which  we 
next  allude  to. 

The  group  of  quartz  gems  includes  many  varieties  of 
color,  and  stones  of  various  degrees  of  value  and  interest. 
Pure  QUARTZ,  or  ROCK  CRYSTAL,  is  rather  used  to  look 
through  than  to  look  at,  although  not  unknown  as  an  orna- 
ment. The  lenses  of  spectacles  are  made  of  it,  and  it  is 
cut  into  various  fanciful  forms.  Round  globes  of  crystal 
are  the  magic  spheres  in  which  some  gifted  seers  can  learn 
what  is  doing  at  distant  spots,  and  perceive  events  that 
have  long  passed  away,  as  if  still  in  progress.  They  are 
curiously  bound  up  with  the  superstitions  of  the  ancient 
and  modern  Egyptians.  Tinged  with  color,  but  still 
clear,  the  same  mineral  is  called  by  many  names.  A 
rose-colored  variety  resembles  the  ruby;  a  purple  or  violet 
kind  is  the  amethyst.  Tinged  with  brown  and  yellow, 
it  becomes  the  cairngorm  of  Scotland.  Of  a  blood  or 
flesh-red  color,  passing  into  orange  and  yellow,  it  is 
known  as  carnelian ;  and  a  rich  brown  opaque  quartz, 
glittering  with  golden  spangles  within  its  substance,  is 
called  aventurine.  From  its  beauty  and  convenient  hard- 
ness, carnelian  and  its  varieties  are  much  used  by  lapida- 
ries, and  are  brought,  either  cut  or  uncut,  from  many 
parts  of  India,  and  from  Arabia,  as  well  as  found  in 
Europe. 

Jasper  and  blood-stone,  or  heliotrope,  consist  of  quartz 
colored  in  a  more  decided  manner  than  the  stones  just 


280   THE  TREASURES  CONTAINED  IN  THE  BOOK. 

mentioned, — the  former  being  altogether  opaque,  and  of 
a  brilliant  blood-red,  while  the  latter  is  partially  transpa- 
rent, or  translucent,  spotted  only  with  opaque  red. 

Agate  may  be  best  described  as  a  mixture  of  almost 
all  the  different  varieties  of  quartz  above  mentioned.  It 
is  partly  transparent,  partly  opaque,  and  of  various  colors; 
often  banded,  but  the  bands  broken  and  interrupted ;  and 
containing  strange  figures,  representing  moss,  landscapes 
with  ruins,  and  angular  marks  like  fortifications,  stars, 
and  even  human  faces.  Agates  are  found  abundantly  in 
Scotland,  principally  near  Perth  and  Dunbar,  but  also  on 
many  parts  of  the  coast  of  England,  among  the  pebbles 
on  the  sea-shore.  They  are  still  more  common  at  Ober- 
stein,  in  the  Palatinate,  not  far  from  the  town  of  Bingen, 
on  the  Rhine;  and  multitudes  come  from  Siberia,  Ceylon, 
and  India.  From  the  latter  locality  especially  are  ob- 
tained the  large  plates  of  agate  used  for  manufacturing 
snuff-boxes  and  other  purposes,  and  also  the  pieces  used 
for  knife-handles. 

The  onyx,  sardonyx,  and  chalcedonyx  are  banded 
agates  of  peculiar  kind,  and  of  considerable  interest  in 
the  arts  as  having  been  selected  for  some  of  the  master- 
pieces of  engraving  executed  by  the  ancients  and  in  the 
Middle  Ages.  Using  the  word  sard  as  indicating  the  red 
or  flesh-color  of  the  carnelian,  a  sard  with  one  layer  or  band 
of  white  is  considered  to  be  an  onyx;  but  if  there  be 
two  or  more  bands  of  different  tints,  the  same  name  is 
still  applied.  The  zones  of  color  should  be  very  distinct, 
separate,  and  strongly  marked,  and  the  colors  themselves 
lively  and  bright.  In  the  sardonyx  there  is  a  red  zone, 


GLITTERING    TREASURES   OF    THE    EARTH.         281 

in  addition  to  that  which  forms  the  true  onyx,  and  the 
chalcedonyx  is  semi-transparent  and  milky. 

In  cutting  the  onyx,  the  figures  are  usually  sculptured 
from  the  white  portion,  leaving  the  colored  band  as  a 
background;  and  no  little  ingenuity  is  required  to  select 
the  parts  of  the  stone  best  adapted  for  the  purpose  of  the 
artist.  With  three  or  four  bands,  a  wonderful  amount 
of  variety  may  be  obtained,  so  that  the  hair,  beard,  and 
drapery  of  figures  are  accurately  represented.  Fine  an- 
tiques thus  sculptured  on  the  onyx  are  of  extreme  value, 
and  the  art  of  cutting  was  also  carried  on  in  perfection 
during  the  Middle  Ages.  The  works  of  this  kind  are 
true  cameos,  and  of  late  years  they  have  been  imitated 
by  a  similar  but  much  easier  process  of  cutting  on  certain 
sea-shells,  also  possessing  bands  of  different  color. 

Besides  cameos  or  raised  figures  cut  on  this  class  of 
stones  by  removing  part  of  the  upper  belt  or  zone,  other 
beautiful  effects  have  been  produced,  such  as  sculpturing 
complete  figures,  taking  advantage  of  the  peculiarities  of 
the  specimens  operated  on,  and  still  more  frequently  bold 
alto-relievos,  and  deep  cuttings  beneath  the  surface,  the 
latter  forming  intaglios  for  seals  and  other  purposes.  It 
is  impossible  to  over-estimate  the  ingenuity  and  high  art 
exercised  in  these  works ;  and  the  demand  for  them  was 
at  one  time  so  great  that  onyxes  became  scarce.  Few 
now  carry  on  the  art  with  success,  and  thus  we  must  seek 
for  the  finest  specimens  among  the  antiques  or  mediaeval 
specimens.  One  remarkable  cameo  was  cut  in  the  fif- 
teenth century,  representing  the  head  of  Dejanira,  in 
which  the  different  tints  of  the  stone  were  made  use  of 
to  represent,  in  their  natural  colors,  the  flesh  and  hair  of 

24* 


282   THE  TREASURES  CONTAINED  IN  THE  BOOK. 

Dejanira  and  the  lion's  skin;  while  a  red  streak  in  the 
stone,  which  might  otherwise  have  appeared  as  a  flaw, 
was  so  cleverly  taken  advantage  of  for  the  inner  side  of 
the  lion's  skin  that  it  gave  it  the  appearance  of  having 
been  recently  flayed  from  the  animal.  It  is  especially 
this  adaptation  of  the  treatment  of  the  subject  to  the 
peculiarities  of  the  stone  that  characterizes  the  "glyp- 
tic" art  as  a  department  of  sculpture.  It  is  the  depart- 
ment that  treats  in  relief  or  intaglio  these  banded  stones 
so  capriciously  moulded  by  Nature,  taking  advantage  of 
their  accidents  of  structure. 

It  is  curious  that  while  almost  all  other  stones  called 
"precious"  were  worn  in  former  times  as  amulets,  to 
ward  off  danger  and  mischief,  and  were  valued  greatly 
for  such  purposes,  and  while  almost  all  the  varieties  of 
agate  had  special  uses,  the  onyx  was  considered  to  excite 
spleen,  melancholy,  and  mental  disturbance  in  the  wearer, 
especially  when  used  as  a  neck-ornament.  As,  however, 
the  ordinary  agate  was  worn  to  calm  pain  and  soothe  the 
mind,  and  the  mere  scent  of  some  varieties — a  pecu- 
liarity difficult  to  ascertain  the  existence  of — would  turn 
away  tempests,  even  arresting  the  impetuosity  of  torrents, 
the  line  of  distinction  must  have  been  very  nicely  drawn. 
So  influential  were  stones  of  this  kind  supposed  to  be, 
that  the  celebrated  Milo  of  Crotona  is  said  to  have  been 
indebted  to  a  certain  chalcedonyx  that  he  wore  for  the 
execution  of  his  feats  of  wonderful  strength.  Of  the 
other  stones,  the  beautiful  heliotrope,  or  bloodstone,  was 
thought  to  render  the  wearer  invisible,  while  jasper  would 
stop  any  excess  of  bleeding  arising  from  natural  causes. 

All  the  minerals  lately  mentioned  consist  of  quartz  or 


GLITTERING    TREASURES    OF    THE   EARTH.         283 

silica,  combined,  when  colored,  with  a  small  quantity  of 
metallic  oxides  and  earthy  minerals.  Thus,  the  amethyst 
and  other  violet  and  blue  colors  are  produced  by  manga- 
nese, and  the  rose  tint  is  owing  to  the  same  metal.  Al- 
most all  the  reds  are  due  to  iron,  and  the  yellow  and 
green  to  very  minute  quantities  of  chrome,  copper,  or 
other  metals.  The  brown  tint  of  the  cairngorm  is  the 
result  of  a  little  bitumen. 

It  is  astonishing  to  consider  how  very  small  a  quantity 
of  foreign  material  will  sometimes  alter  the  character  and 
appearance  of  crystals.  Thus,  the  cat's-eye  is  a  gem  of 
greenish  tint,  milky  and  opal-like.  When  cut  in  a  cer- 
tain way,  it  presents  a  floating  white  band  of  light,  and 
certain  specimens  emit  one  or  more  brilliant  rays,  colored 
or  colorless,  issuing  apparently  from  one  point,  and  ex- 
tending to  the  extremity  of  the  stone.  Compared  with 
one  of  those  balls  of  crystals  sometimes  cut  into  the  same 
form,  or  with  the  lens  of  a  pair  of  pebble  spectacles,  it 
is  hardly  possible  to  imagine  that  there  is  so  little  differ- 
ence as  really  exists  between  the  two  minerals  in  their 
chemical  composition.  In  point  of  fact,  the  presence 
within  the  crystal  of  a  few  delicate  threads  of  white 
asbestos  seems  to  produce  all  the  modifications,  except 
that  of  color;  and  the  cause  of  the  color  itself  is  owing 
to  some  substance  the  quantity  of  which  is  too  small  to 
enable  chemists  to  determine  its  nature.  Certainly  the 
method  of  small  doses,  as  advocated  by  homoaopathists,  is 
not  without  a  certain  analogy  in  Nature;  and  doses  too 
small  to  be  appreciated  by  mortal  chemistry  are  suffi- 
cient, sometimes,  to  produce  results  on  minerals  rather 
startling  in  their  magnitude. 


284   THE  TREASURES  CONTAINED  IN  THE  BOOK. 

There  is  one  fact  with  regard  to  specimens  of  quartz 
— or  crystals,  as  they  are  often  called — which  is  very 
curious  and  interesting.  Small  cavities  not  unfrequently 
occur  within  them,  sometimes  empty,  but  often  filled 
with  fluid.  By  exposure  to  cold,  this  fluid  may  be  frozen, 
and  very  often  a  slight  increase  of  temperature  converts 
it  into  a  transparent  vapor;  while  by  optical  methods  of 
examination  employed  under  the  microscope,  the  pro- 
perties of  the  fluid  can  occasionally  be  detected.  Indeed, 
the  cavities  have. been  so  large  that  the  fluid  could  be 
extracted  in  sufficient  quantity  for  examination.  It 
might  be  expected  that  some  new  element  or  compound 
would  be  thus  obtained, — some  secret  of  Nature's  labora- 
tory,— some  substance  from  the  interior  of  the  earth,  only 
thus  brought  within  our  knowledge,  locked  up  in  one  of 
the  hard  crystalline  minerals  elaborated  far  beneath,  out 
of  our  sight.  No  such  result  is  obtained,  and  no  such  mys- 
tery laid  bare;  for  we  find  almost  all  the  cavities  in  ques- 
tion to  be  occupied  by  water,  mixed  only  with  some  com- 
mon salt  or  acid,  held  in  solution.  Vapor  of  water,  then, 
must  be  contained  in  rocks  during  the  whole  period  of 
their  formation  in  the  earth,  much  in  the  same  state  of 
admixture  in  which  we  know  that  it  is  present  in  the 
atmosphere  to  form  clouds.  Thus  these  wonders  of  Na- 
ture and  treasures  of  art  are  the  result  of  some  process 
only  the  more  wonderful  because  it  is  so  extremely 
simple,  being  one  by  whose  agency  ordinary  familiar  sub- 
stances are  worked  up,  together  with  water,  under  cer- 
tain conditions  of  heat,  bringing  about  in  this  way  the 
magic  of  our  most  varied  and  beautiful  gems. 

Mixed  with  water  in  a  different  way, — the  water  dis- 


GLITTERING    TREASURES    OF    THE    EARTH.         285 

tributed  in  every  part,  and  not  collected  in  cavities, — the 
same  mineral,  quartz  or  silica,  becomes  that  very  curious 
and  fantastic  stone,  the  opal.  The  proper  color  of  this 
gem  is  a  peculiar  pearl-gray,  showing  a  fluctuating  pale 
red  or  wine-yellow  tint  when  seen  between  the  eye  and 
the  light.  With  reflected  light,  it  presents  all  the  colors 
of  the  rainbow,  showing  a  flame-red,  violet,  purple,  blue, 
emerald-green,  and  golden  yellow.  The  rays  of  light  and 
color  shoot  forth  from  a  fine  opal  (noble  opal,  in  technical 
language)  with  the  most  vivid  effulgence;  and  the  more 
flaws  it  contains  the  more  does  it  reflect,  and  the  greater 
value  is  attached  to  it.  In  some  rare  cases  opals  have 
been  found  nearly  black,  but  glowing  like  a  fine  ruby. 
Other  opals  are  spangled,  and  sometimes  not  more  than 
one  color  is  seen.  In  all  cases,  however,  the  foundation 
of  the  stone,  independent  of  the  color,  which  is  believed 
to  be  a  mere  optical  effect,  consists  of  a  peculiar  milky 
translucent  mass,  characteristic  of  the  gem. 

Opals  are  very  rarely  found  of  large  size,  the  dimen- 
sions of  a  hazel-nut  or  walnut  being  seldom  exceeded. 
They  are  never  cut  in  facets,  and  are  generally  set  sur- 
rounded by  brilliants,  whose  bright,  dazzling  reflections 
contrast  well  with  the  calm,  moon-like  beauty  and  rich, 
soft  tints  of  the  central  stone.  Fine  opals  are  of  great  value, 
being  considered  only  next  to  the  diamond.  They  are 
softer  than  crystal,  and  require  extreme  care  in  cutting. 
They  generally  consist  of  about  ninety  per  cent,  silica 
and  ten  per  cent,  water,  and  are  very  irregular  in  texture 
and  hardness.  There  are  many  varieties,  all  inferior  in 
value  to  the  noble  opal,  known  by  various  names.  Fire 


286   THE  TREASURES  CONTAINED  IN  THE  BOOK. 

opal,  liydropliane,  cachalong,  may  be  mentioned  as  among 
these. 

TURQUOISE  is  a  mineral  of  great  beauty,  taking  rank 
as  a  gem,  though  not  crystalline,  and  always  nearly 
opaque.  It  is  of  a  fine  azure  blue  or  bluish-green  color, 
slightly  transparent  at  the  edges,  and  hard  enough  to 
admit  of  a  good  polish.  It  is  found  in  the  East,  and  (of 
late  years  at  least)  chiefly  in  Arabia  and  Persia,  whence 
considerable  numbers  have  been  obtained.  It  owes  its 
color  to  the  presence  of  copper,  and  was  formerly  more 
commonly  used  and  more  valued  than  at  present.  A 
superstition  was  connected  with  it,  as  with  so  many  gems, 
and  the  possession  of  this  stone,  if  given  to  the  wearer, — 
not  purchased, — was  believed  to  ward  of!  any  threatening 
danger.  Thus,  we  read  in  Donne, — 

"  As  a  compassionate  turkois  that  doth  tell, 
By  looking  pale,  the  wearer  is  not  well." 

And  again,  in  the  play  of  "  Sejanus,"  by  Ben  Jonson, — 

"  Observe  him  as  his  watch  observes  his  clock, 
And,  true  as  turkois  in  the  dear  lord's  ring, 
Look  well  or  ill  with  him." 

This  stone  was  also  believed  to  prevent  and  relieve 
headaches  and  appease  hatred. 

There  are  some  other  substances  regarded  as  gems, 
which  though  originating  with  the  animal  strictly  be- 
long to  the  mineral  kingdom;  and  others,  again,  which 
have  the  same  relation  to  the  vegetable  world.  Pearls 
are  among  the  former,  and  amber  is  an  example  of  the 
latter.  Coral  is  a  more  decided  animal  product. 


GLITTERING   TREASURES  OF   THE   EARTH,          287 

PEARLS,  as  all  know,  are  obtained  from  the  insides 
of  certain  sea-shells,  and  they  appear  to  be  the  result  of 
an  effort  of  the  animal  inhabitant  and  constructor  of  the 
shell  either  to  repair  an  injury  or  to  cover  up  a  foreign 
body  which  has  been  introduced.  They  are,  however, 
mineral  secretions,  and,  once  deposited,  the  constructor 
would  seem  to  have  nothing  more  to  do  with  them,  as 
they  play  no  part  in  the  organization  of  the  healthy 
animal.  They  are  obtained  both  from  the  Eastern  and 
Western  hemispheres,  and  from  shells  varying  a  good 
deal  in  their  form  and  structure, — generally,  however,  in 
those  having  two  valves.  The  number  of  small  pearls  ob- 
tained and  sent  into  the  market  is  exceedingly  great,  but 
specimens  of  any  considerable  dimensions  are  as  rare  as 
they  are  valuable.  Those  of  good  round  form  and  pure 
clear  color  are  the  best :  the  pear-shaped  are  the  largest. 
Pearls  do  not  bear  exposure  to  damp  nor  to  animal  exha- 
lations. They  should  thus  be  kept  dry,  and  only  worn 
on  special  occasions. 

AMBER  is  a  fossil  resin,  originally  the  secreted  juice 
of  some  extinct  species  of  pine,  and  it  often  contains, 
embalmed  within  it,  remains  of  insects  and  even  the 
most  delicate  parts  of  flowers.  Its  exquisite  yellow  color 
and  beautiful  transparency,  together  with  its  delicate 
perfume  and  some  other  properties,  have  caused  it  to  be 
regarded  as  a  gem.  It  is  found  in  nodules  or  lumps  on 
the  sea-shore,  chiefly  in  Northern  Europe,  or  in  clay-pits 
at  various  depths,  with  lignite  and  gravel.  The  speci- 
mens containing  insects,  &c.  are  highly  valued  as  curiosi- 
ties, but  not  as  precious  stones.  Amber  was  formerly 
much  more  in  use  as  a  gem  than  it  is  now,  and  in  the 


288   THE  TREASURES  CONTAINED  IN  THE  BOOK. 

form  of  beads,  bracelets,  and  necklaces,  it  was  a  common 
ornament  of  the  person  in  England  in  the  time  of 
Shakspeare.  It  is  not  now  altogether  out  of  fashion,  and 
its  lightness  and  elegant  simplicity  are  worthy  of  some 
attention.  Medicinal  properties  were  at  one  time  attri- 
buted to  it,  and  it  is  still  used  for  perfumes  and  some 
medical  compounds;  but  there  is  no  difficulty  in  manufac- 
turing it  artificially. 

CORAL,  if  not  a  gem,  ranks  with  the  class  of  orna- 
mental minerals  we  are  now  considering.  It  is  not,  how- 
ever, like  the  pearl,  an  extraneous  secretion,  unnecessary 
and  useless  to  the  animal  that  constructs  it,  but  the 
skeleton  or  stony  framework  of  the  animal  itself.  The 
only  kind  of  coral  of  important  value  is  that  beautiful 
red  variety  fished  up  in  the  Mediterranean.  This  has 
been  regarded  as  a  talisman  against  enchantments,  witch- 
craft, venom,  the  assaults  of  the  devil,  thunder,  and 
marine  tempests.  Ten  grains  of  it,  we  are  told,  if  given 
to  an  infant  in  its  mother's  milk,  provided  it  be  a  first 
child  and  this  its  first  food,  will  preserve  it  from  epi- 
leptic and  other  fits  for  the  whole  of  its  life.  Another 
great  authority  in  matters  of  this  kind  believes  that 
coral  worn  by  a  healthy  man  will  be  of  a  handsomer  and 
more  lively  red  than  if  worn  by  a  woman,  and  that  it 
becomes  pale  and  livid  if  worn  by  one  who  is  ill  and  in 
danger  of  death.  We  can  only  say  with  regard  to  this 
that  we  have  not  ourselves  tried  the  experiment,  and  that 
perhaps,  like  many  other  experiments,  it  would  succeed 
only  in  the  hands  of  the  faithful. 

There  are  many  curious  superstitions  and  fancies 
concerning  precious  stones,  besides  those  we  have  re- 


GLITTERING   TREASURES   OF   THE   EARTH.       289 

ferred  to;  and  one  of  them,  which,  as  it  is  elegant  and 
fanciful  in  its  absurdity,  is  perhaps  worthy  of  mention 
in  this  place,  includes  almost  the  whole  group  of  gems 
used  for  ornament.  It  is  a  Polish  idea  that  every  human 
being  is  born  under  the  influence  of  some  destiny,  that 
the  month  of  his  nativity  has  a  mysterious  connection 
with  this,  and  that  wl  m  it  is  desired  to  make  a  present 
to  one  greatly  valued  i  id  loved,  a  ring  should  be  offered 
containing  a  gem  expressing  some  such  quality  as  the 
destiny  would  indicate.  Each  precious  stone  thus  has 
reference  to  some  particular  month;  and  the  following  list 
is  copied  from  a  memorandum  drawn  up  by  a  Pole  many 
years  ago : — 

January. — Hyacinth  or  garnet.     Constancy  and  fide- 
lity in  every  engagement. 

February. — Amethyst.     Preserves    the   wearer   from 
strong  passions,  and  insures  peace  of  mind. 

March. — Bloodstone.    Courage  and  success  in  dangers 
and  hazardous  enterprises. 

April. — Sapphire  or  diamond.      Repentance  and  inno- 
cence. 

May. — Emerald.     Success  in  love. 

June. — Agate.     Long  life  and  health. 

July. — Carnelian  and  Ruby.     Forgetfulness,  or  cure 
of  evils  springing  from  friendship  or  love. 

August. — Sardonyx.     Conjugal  fidelity. 

September. — Chrysolite.  Preserves  from  or  cures  folly. 

October. — Aqua-marine  or  Opal.  Misfortune  and  hope. 

November. — Topaz.     Fidelity  and  friendship. 
25 


290   THE  TREASURES  CONTAINED  IN  THE  BOOK. 

December. — Turquoise  or  Malachite.  Brilliant  success 
and  happiness  in  every  circumstance  of  life. 

Another  curious  superstition  concerning  gems  is  that 
the  twelve  apostles  were  symbolized,  each  under  some  one. 
The  list  is  curious ;  but  one  can  hardly  see  the  meaning 
of  the  allusions.  It  is  as  follows: — 

St.  Peter Jasper. 

St.  Andrew Sapphire. 

St.  James- Chalcedony. 

St.  John  Emerald. 

St.  Philip  Sardonyx. 

St.  Bartholomew Carnelian. 

St.  Matthew Chrysolite. 

St.  Thomas Beryl. 

St.  Thaddeus Chrysoprase. 

St.  James  the  Less Topaz. 

St.  Simeon  Hyacinth. 

St.  Matthias  Amethyst. 

The  stones  in  this  list  are  sometimes  called  the  Apostle 
Grems. 

Jet  can  hardly  be  called  a  gem  or  precious  stone,  but, 
with  malachite,  lapis  lazuli,  jade,  and  some  other  stony 
minerals,  it  hovers  on  the  confines  of  this  costly  series  of 
natural  treasures.  Many  highly  ornamental  and  beauti- 
ful varieties  of  stones,  common  enough  in  other  forms, 
might  readily  be  quoted  as  coming  under  the  same  cate- 
gory, but  we  must  not  detain  the  reader  longer  by  a 
mere  enumeration. 

We  have  now  gone  through  the  list  of  gems  or  pre- 


GLITTERING   TREASURES   OF    THE    EARTH.         291 

cious  stones,  elaborated  and  lying  buried  in  various  parts 
of  the  earth,  and  from  time  to  time  extracted  for  the  use 
of  man.  With  few  exceptions,  all  these  numerous  and 
varied  substances  are  objects  of  beauty  and  luxury,  and 
cannot  be  regarded  in  any  sense  as  objects  of  necessity, 
or  even  of  great  use.  We  could  certainly  do  without 
any  one  of  them,  and  if  we  had  them  not  we  should 
hardly  feel  the  want.  What  lesson  ought  we  to  draw 
from  this  lavish  and  elaborate  ornamentation  even  of 
those  stones  that  are  mixed  up  with  the  dust  under  our 
feet  ?  Whence  and  why  this  marvellous  beauty  in  things 
that  under  ordinary  circumstances  are  not  seen  by  mortal 
eye  or  come  within  mortal  ken  ?  It  is  only  when  by 
accident  or  design  some  one  having  wealth,  the  result  of 
spare  and  accumulated  labor,  is  enabled  to  bestow  a  part 
of  it  in  rewarding  those  who  discover  or  render  available 
these  hidden  treasures,  that  their  beauty  is  seen  and  their 
value  recognized,  and  this  notwithstanding  that  they 
possess  properties  of  importance  distinguishing  them 
from  other  minerals. 

It  is  no  more  a  right  thing  puritanically  to  despise  and 
neglect  these  gems  than  it  is  to  refuse  to  admire  flowers, 
to  profess  to  despise  beauty,  or  to  shut  our  eyes  to  other 
clear  purposes  of  nature  and  nature's  God  everywhere 
expressed.  We  live  in  a  world  of  beauty;  the  green 
carpet  of  verdure  is  beautiful,  the  flower  brightening  the 
verdure  is  beautiful,  the  butterfly  sipping  the  nectar  of 
the  flower  is  beautiful,  the  bird  pursuing  the  insect  is 
beautiful,  and  the  blue  sky  and  gorgeous  clouds  in  the 
heavens  are  also  beautiful.  All  these  are  for  our  use  and 
enjoyment,  and  it  is  our  duty  to  study  them  in  order  that 


292      THE    TREASURES    CONTAINED   IN    THE   BOOK. 

we  may  enjoy  them.  And  can  it  be  that  those  otoer 
more  durable  treasures  buried  in  the  earth,  distributed 
only  sparingly  and  found  only  when  looked  for  properly, 
— can  it  be  that  these  were  meant  to  be  neglected  and  de- 
spised? Surely  such  an  assumption  is  contrary  to  the 
whole  course  of  nature  and  the  spirit  and  sentiment  of 
creation. 


Cjrapitt  ilje  ^i 

SOURCES   OF    METALLIC   WEALTH. 

THE  metals,  a  familiar  group  of  natural  substances, 
having  peculiar  properties,  are  obtainable  either  directly 
from  the  earth  in  what  is  called  a  native  state,  or  by  the 
aid  of  chemistry  from  certain  stony  minerals,  some  re- 
sembling metals  in  appearance,  others  stones  in  the  ordi- 
nary sense  of  the  term,  with  no  metallic  appearance 
whatever.  Minerals  thus  yielding  metals  are  called  ores. 
Several  of  the  metals  are  among  the  most  valuable  of  all 
natural  substances,  even  in  the  state  in  which  they  are 
found :  others  are  not  less  valuable,  but  in  an  economic 
sense  only,  not  being  so  costly,  their  value  consisting  in 
the  largeness  of  the  quantity  used,  or  the  amount  of 
labor  bestowed  in  their  manipulation.  The  former 
are  sometimes  called  noble  metals,  and  they  have  certain 
peculiar  properties  by  which  they  may  be  recognized. 
The  latter  are  more  homely  and  plebeian,  but  they  form 
the  main  strength  of  the  group. 

Of  the  noble  metals,  some,  such  as  gold,  platinum, 
and  a  few  others,  exist  generally  in  the  earth  in  the 
metallic  state,  and  these  do  not  tarnish  by  exposure  to 
ordinary  atmospheric  influences.  They  are,  for  the  most 
part,  comparatively  rare,  and  some  of  them  are  only 
known  in  minute  quantities  in  one  or  two  localities. 
25*  293 


294   THE  TREASURES  CONTAINED  IN  THE  BOOK. 

Silver  and  mercury,  two  other  noble  metals,  are  not 
commonly  found  pure  and  alone,  being  generally  mixed 
with  sulphur,  or  existing  in  an  earthy  state  as  oxide. 
They  more  readily  alter  on  exposure  to  the  air,  and  are 
more  common  and  less  valuable,  than  the  others.  There 
are  thus  two  groups. 

GOLD  is  the  first  of  metals,  as  the  diamond  is  the  first 
of  gems  j  but,  whereas  the  diamond  is  the  rare  and 
exceptional  form  of  coal,  a  substance  infinitely  common, 
gold  is  very  widely  spread  in  the  earth,  the  quantity 
being  small,  but  the  metal  always  in  its  true  metallic  form. 
Practically,  it  is  not  known  in  nature  in  any  other  form. 
Mixed  mechanically  with  iron,  and  slate,  and  quartz 
rock,  or  mixed  sometimes  very  intimately,  but  still  not 
otherwise  than  mechanically,  with  other  metals,  gold  is 
always  gold;  it  is  never  a  mere  ore  in  the  ordinary  sense 
of  the  term. 

Australia  and  California  now,  South  America  and 
Mexico  in  former  times,  India  and  the  East  at  all  times, 
have  yielded  supplies  of  this  most  durable  and  most 
valuable  metal.  Gold,  when  found,  is  dug  out  of  the 
earth  much  in  the  way  that  the  diamond  and  the  ruby 
are.  It  lies  generally  mixed  up  with  a  quantity  of  loose 
stones  and  rubbish,  often  at  some  depth  below  the  surface. 
It  is  easily  recognized  by  its  color  and  weight,  qualities 
which  together  may  always  decide  the  question  as  to  its 
value. 

Gold  is,  indeed,  the  king  of  metals.  It  represents  in 
its  own  person  all  the  important  properties  of  metals,  and 
can  be  conveniently  made  the  standard  of  value  for  all. 
When  not  pure  in  its  native  state,  it  is  only  mixed  with 


SOURCES    OF    METALLIC    WEALTH.  295 

other  metals  and  buried  in  and  obscured  by  earthy  and 
stony  rubbish,  from  which  it  is  extracted  by  washing. 
It  is  often  found  in  particles  so  minute  as  scarcely  to  be 
visible  to  the  naked  eye ;  but  this  fine  dust,  being  pure, 
is  collected  easily  enough  by  simple  processes.  Else- 
where rounded  grains  (pepitas,  the  Spaniards  call  them) 
of  sensible  magnitude  are  found,  few  grains  being  so 
large  as  the  head  of  a  small  pin.  Less  frequently  it  is  in 
flat  plates  or  spangles,  very  thin,  but  not  so  small,  and 
sometimes  there  are  small  crystals.  It  would  take  a 
thousand  of  some  of  these  spangles  to  make  the  weight 
of  a  grain.  Some  are  larger.  Then  come  the  larger, 
rarer,  and  more  highly  valued  nuggets,  lumps  of  solid 
gold,  rich,  of  bright  yellow  color,  and  known  at  once  by 
their  great  weight,  compared  with  their  size.  They  vary 
in  size  from  that  of  a  pea  to  masses  worth  thousands  of 
pounds  sterling.  These  rare  prizes  in  the  great  lottery 
of  gold-mining  are  fallen  upon  by  the  merest  accident. 
From  the  nature  of  the  case,  knowledge  and  experience 
are  of  little  value  in  gold-finding,  as  the  metal  is  not 
obtained  from  the  vein  where  it  was  formed,  but  from 
some  old  river-bed  or  hollow  into  which  it  has  been 
drifted  after  being  transported  by  water. 

Although  gold  has  been  profitably  obtained  in  large 
quantities  from  very  few  localities  at  one  time,  there  is 
reason  to  know  that  such  an  influx  as  has  deluged  the 
civilized  world  within  the  last  twenty  years  is  not  an 
event  unparalleled  in  history.  No  doubt,  in  former 
times  a  smaller  quantity  entering  Europe  than  has  lately 
been  sent  would  have  produced  a  larger  result,  for  the 
quantity  and  value  of  things  represented  by  coin  were 


THE  TREASURES  CONTAINED  IN  THE  BOOK. 

then  much  smaller,  and  communication  much  less  rapid 
and  perfect.  But  that  two  or  three  times  in  the  world's 
history  gold  has  poured  in  unexpectedly,  doubling  the 
supply  previously  existing,  and  disturbing  the  equi- 
librium of  prices,  is  unquestionable.  Such  influx  has 
one  effect,  not  pleasant,  perhaps,  but  not  on  the  whole 
unwholesome :  it  reduces  the  value  of  realized  property 
as  compared  with  the  value  of  labor.  Wages  become 
higher,  and  payment  for  labor  of  all  kinds  also  becomes 
higher,  because,  so  many  more  ounces  of  gold  being  in 
the  market,  one  ounce  will  no  longer  purchase  so  much 
food  as  before,  and  labor  must  have  food.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  interest  of  accumulated  money  does  not  in- 
crease, but  rather  tends  to-  diminish.  Thus,  persons 
whose  income  is  derived  from  the  interest  of  accumulated 
capital  are  directly  injured  by  gold  discoveries.  Those 
whose  income  arises  from  land  suffer  less,  as  the  rent  of 
land  will  always  have  reference  to  the  price  of  food. 

Gold  is  spread  very  widely  over  the  earth,  and  is  now 
abundant  in  Australia,  Africa,  South  America,  the  coun- 
tries on  the  Pacific  slopes  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and 
Siberia,  whence  the  main  supply  of  the  world  is  obtained 
at  present.  A  considerable  quantity  has  always  been 
added  from  other  districts,  and  of  late  years  the  number 
of  these  has  increased.  The  British  possessions  of  North 
America  and  New  Zealand,  most  of  the  rivers  of  Eastern 
Europe,  especially  those  coming  from  the  Carpathian 
Mountains,  and  the  rivers  of  Spain  and  Portugal,  and, 
indeed,  almost  all  important  rivers  throughout  the  world, 
have  yielded  indications  of  this  wealth.  Most  mountain- 
districts,  even  those  of  the  British  Islands,  are  also  pro- 


SOURCES    OF    METALLIC    WEALTH.  297 

vided.  England,  Ireland,  and  Scotland  have  all  in  turn 
been  gold-producing  countries.  Wales  is  so  now. 

Gold  in  a  native  state,  visible  and  tangible,  is,  then, 
one  of  the  most  widely  spread  of  all  substances  upon  the 
earth.  That  it  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  most  un- 
alterable is,  perhaps,  the  best  reason  for  the  high  esti- 
mation in  which  it  is  held.  No  exposure  to  weather,  no 
acids  or  alkaline  substance,  except  the  peculiar  mixture  of 
mineral  acids  called  aqua  regia,  will  touch  it.  Although 
by  no  means  hard,  it  is  wonderfully  tough,  and  is  beaten 
into  thin  sheets  or  drawn  into  wire  of  almost  microscopic 
fineness.  It  is  capable  of  being  made  into  sheets  so  fine 
that  they  are  actually  transparent  and  transmit  a  beauti- 
ful purple  light;  and  there  seems  hardly  a  limit  to  the 
fineness  of  the  wire  made  of  it  by  coating  it  first  with 
silver,  drawing  it  to  extreme  fineness,  and  then  dissolving 
off  the  silver  by  an  acid  which  does  not  touch  gold.  A 
mile  of  such  wire  would  not  weigh  ten  grains  (less  than 
the  twelfth  part  of  the  weight  of  a  sovereign). 

Although  generally  obtained  from  sands  and  gravels, 
by  picking  out  with  the  hand,  washing  carefully  in 
water,  or  catching  hold  of  by  mercury,  which  seems 
to  dissolve  it  and  suck  it  up  as  water  does  salt,  gold 
is  sometimes  found  closely  combined  with  other  metals, 
generally,  but  not  always,  in  the  metallic  state.  Espe- 
cially is  this  the  case  in  Hungary,  where  it  is  mixed  with 
a  curious  and  rare  metal  called  tellurium,  of  no  known 
value.  In  Brazil  and  in  Siberia  gold  is  found  with  other 
very  rare  metals. 

Who  has  not  heard  of  the  incessant  efforts  of  the  al- 
chemists to  convert  worthless  substances  into  gold  ?  Vain 


298   THE  TREASURES  CONTAINED  IN  THE  BOOK. 

efforts  they  certainly  were,  and  were  likely  to  havo  boon, 
for  they  were  made  in  the  dark,  without  a  foundation  of 
chemical  knowledge,  and  often  in  opposition  to  natural 
laws  now  well  understood,  At  present  the  transmutation 
of  one  element  into  another  is  regarded  as  a  dream, 
hardly  justified  even  in  a  recognized  Bedlamite;  and  no 
doubt  with  reason,  if  the  assumption  is  admitted  that  all 
substances  called  elements  are  really  so.  When,  however, 
we  see  what  Nature  can  do  with  a  few  gases  in  the  case 
of  organic  life,  and  the  wonderful  transmutations  there 
performed,  we  may  be  permitted  to  suspect  that  perhaps 
all,  or  at  least  many,  of  the  assumed  elements  will  some 
day  yield  to  a  mightier  decomposing  force  than  is  yet 
known,  and  show  relations  that  may  restore  to  our  al- 
chemic friends  the  credit  due  to  them  as  hard-working 
investigators  of  Nature's  secrets.  Then,  gold  may  be 
shown  to  have  real  relations  as  well  as  fanciful  resem- 
blances to  other  substances. 

And,  after  all,  the  quantity  of  gold  obtained  is  not 
great.  Look  at  the  ugly  but  interesting  pyramid  that 
disfigured  the  entrance  of  the  Great  International  Exhi- 
bition. It  represented  all  the  gold  that  has  come  from 
Australia.  A  similar  pyramid  would  represent  all  that 
has  come  from  California.  A  cube,  measuring  a  few 
yards  every  way,  would  represent  more  than  all  that  has 
ever  been  obtained  for  the  use  of  man  since  the  world 
began.  A  block  of  iron  of  that  size  would  hardly  attract 
attention,  and  in  a  single  year  more  copper  might  be  got 
out  of  one  mine.  Why  is  gold  so  scarce  in  comparison 
with  other  metals,  and  why,  being  so  scarce,  is  it  so  very 
universally  distributed  ?  These  are  queries  not  replied 


SOURCES    OF    METALLIC   WEALTH.  29$ 

to  satisfactorily  by  those  who  study  such  matters.  But 
one  thing  is  certain :  gold  is  not  valuable  merely  because 
it  is  rare.  Platinum  is  much  less  in  quantity,  and  equally 
rare.  Iridium,  rhodium,  osmium,  palladium,  these  are 
all  more  rare,  and  cannot  be  said  to  have  much  value,  ex- 
cept as  curiosities.  They  have  many  of  the  properties 
of  gold,  but  they  lack  the  rich  color,  the  pliability,  the 
facility  of  handling,  of  that  metal.  Long  as  the  world  may 
last,  gold  will  no  doubt  continue  to  be  the  representative 
metal,  and  the  metal  resorted  to  for  personal  ornament 
by  all  who  can  afford  to  purchase  it.  It  is  the  most  noble 
and  royal  of  metals. 

SILVER  is  even  more  beautiful  than  gold,  but  it  is  far 
less  able  to  resist  the  influence  of  acids,  gases,  and  other 
foreign  substances.  Unlike  gold,  also,  it  is  easily  tar- 
nished; and  it  is  especially  subject  to  a  blackening  of  the 
surface  by  exposure  to  a  sulphur  atmosphere.  Such  an 
atmosphere  as  arises  from  the  presence  of  large  numbers 
of  human  beings,  and  the  decomposition  of  many  kinds 
of  vegetable  matter,  tarnishes  silver.  The  consumption 
of  coal  and  the  burning  of  coal  gas  set  free  a  considerable 
quantity  of  sulphur :  so  that  in  peopled  districts  there  is 
abundant  impurity  in  the  air  to  blacken  the  surface  of 
this  beautiful  metal. 

Combining  more  readily  with  foreign  substances,  silver 
is  found  not  only  quite  as  widely  distributed,  but  occurs 
in  a  much  greater  variety  of  admixtures  and  far  larger 
quantity  than  gold.  It  is  found  native  as  a  metal,  though 
rarely  of  the  beautiful  color  for  which  it  is  so  much 
admired.  The  form  of  native  silver  is,  however,  often 
very  fanciful.  More  frequently  it  is  an  earthy  oxide  or 


300   THE  TREASURES  CONTAINED  IN  THE  BOOK. 

a  sulphuret;  most  frequently  it  is  intimately  mixed  in 
small  proportion  with  other  metals,  &c.  It  especially 
affects  certain  metals,  but  these  are  different  from  those 
with  which  gold  is  associated.  Antimony,  bismuth, 
cobalt,  arsenic,  are  among  the  less  common,  lead  and, 
to  some  extent,  copper,  among  the  more  common,  metals 
thus  mixed  up  with  silver.  With  lead,  in  its  usual  form 
of  galena  (sulphuret),  silver  is  almost  always  combined, 
and  with  metallic  copper  it  is  present  in  a  very  singular 
way,  distributed  .through  the  native  metal  abundantly 
found  on  Lake  Superior,  but  not  forming  an  alloy  with  it. 
As  at  a  very  moderate  temperature  copper  and  silver  com- 
bine, there  is  thus  proof  either  that  the  metallic  copper 
has  not  been  deposited  in  these  veins  in  a  gaseous  or 
liquid  state,  or  that  the  silver  has  penetrated  the  solid 
copper  since  its  deposit  to  occupy  blebs  and  cracks  in 
the  metal. 

A  few  of  the  ores  of  silver  are  beautiful  as  specimens, 
but  they  are  not  used  for  personal  ornament.  The  metal 
itself,  in  its  extreme  delicacy  and  adaptability  to  various 
purposes,  and  in  the  perfect  polish  it  takes,  is  sufficiently 
remarkable  not  to  require  additional  interest  from  its 
admixture  with  other  substances. 

The  properties  of  silver  are  many.  When  well  pol- 
ished, it  reflects  more  and  radiates  less  heat  than  any 
other  metal.  Its  use  for  table-furniture  is  thus  quite  as 
remarkable  as  its  beauty.  When  pure,  it  is  not  so  hard  as 
copper,  but  a  very  small  alloy  of  copper  hardens  it  with- 
out altering  its  color.  It  is  capable  of  being  beaten  into 
leaves  ten  thousand  of  which  piled  together  would  not 
be  an  inch  thick;  and  it  may  be  drawn  into  wire  finer 


SOURCES   OF   METALLIC    WEALTH.  301 

than  the  most  delicate  human  hair.  A  very  thin  coat  of 
pure  silver  may  be  deposited,  by  the  process  of  electro- 
plating, on  the  surface  of  other  metals,  which  thus  have 
the  properties  of  solid  silver  so  long  as  the  surface  re- 
mains. The  salts  of  silver  are  much  used  in  porcelain- 
painting,  in  chemical  manufactures,  and  in  the  laboratory. 

Silver  is  very  widely  distributed.  It  exists,  in  quan- 
tities that  can  be  determined,  in  sea-water,  in  sea-weeds, 
in  the  ashes  of  land-plants,  and  in  some  animal  sub- 
stances. It  is  present  in  almost  all  ores  of  lead  and  in 
copper;  and  a  large  part  of  the  silver  of  commerce  is  ob- 
tained, by  an  ingenious  process,  from  melted  lead.  The 
mixed  lead  and  silver  being  in  a  large  pan  in  a  melted 
state,  the  fire  is  withdrawn,  and  the  metal  allowed  to 
cool.  Soon  crystals  of  pure  lead  form  and  sink  to  the 
bottom.  If  these  are  removed,  the  liquid  that  remains 
contains  all  the  silver;  and  by  continually  removing  the 
crystals  the  remaining  liquid  is  at  last  left  extremely 
rich  in  silver.  When  the  process  has  been  carried  on 
long  enough,  the  silver  is  obtained  by  allowing  the  lead 
to  mix  with  oxygen  gas  and  pass  off  as  litharge,  which 
is  either  used  in  that  state  or  again  converted  into  lead. 
A  slab  of  silver,  weighing  nearly  half  a  ton,  obtained  in 
this  way,  was  among  the  minerals  at  the  Great  Exhibition 
of  1851. 

MERCURY,  or  QUICKSILVER,  is  one  of  the  noble  metals. 
At  ordinary  temperatures  it  exists  at  the  earth's  surface 
in  the  form  of  a  fluid.  Near  the  poles,  where  the  cold  is 
intense,  it  is  solid,  and  may  be  hammered  like  lead ;  but 
this  is  only  when  the  temperature  is  40°  below  zero  of 
Fahrenheit.  It  dissolves  several  other  metals  in  the  most 

26 


302        THE  TREASURES  CONTAINED  IN  THE  BOOK. 

rapid  manner,  and  forms  with  them  pastes,  called  amal- 
gams. Gold,  silver,  and  tin  are  among  the  metals  thus 
acted  upon. 

Mercury  is  found  sometimes  as  a  metal,  and  sometimes 
mixed  with  sulphur,  as  a  beautiful  red  stone,  called  cin- 
nabar, from  which  the  metal  is  obtained  by  distillation 
at  a  low  temperature.  In  Europe  the  chief  mercury- 
mines  are  at  Almaden  in  Spain,  in  Idria  (in  Eastern 
Austria),  in  the  Palatinate  (not  far  from  Bingen  on  the 
Rhine),  and  in  Hungary.  In  America,  California  has 
lately  produced  large  supplies. 

The  fact  that  it  remains  fluid  at  all  ordinary  tempera- 
tures renders  quicksilver  particularly  valuable  as  a  mea- 
sure of  heat;  and  its  extreme  weight,  combined  with 
fluidity,  renders  it  equally  useful  as  a  measure  of  the 
pressure  of  the  air.  It  is  thus  the  material  used  both  in 
the  thermometer  and  barometer;  and  its  high  power  of 
reflecting  light  renders  it  valuable  for  mirrors  and  for  an 
artificial  horizon  in  astronomical  instruments. 

Besides  all  these  useful  properties,  mercury  is  largely 
used  in  medicine,  as  calomel,  blue  pill,  &c.,  and  much 
more  largely  in  obtaining  the  precious  metals,  gold  and 
silver,  when  they  are  present  in  small  proportions  mixed 
with  earthy  matters.  Mercury  dissolves  these  metals 
with  great  rapidity;  and  by  afterwards  applying  heat, 
the  mercury  passes  off  into  vapor,  and  can  be  re-obtained 
in  bottles,  while  the  gold  or  silver  is  left  behind  in  a  cake. 

Mercury  is  extremely  heavy,  being  thirteen  and  a  half 
times  as  heavy  as  the  same  quantity  of  water. 

The  next  group  of  metals  includes  those  sometimes 
called  base;  but  this  is  only  in  a  technical  and  anti- 


SOURCES    OF    METALLIC    WEALTH.  303 

quated  sense,  and  because  they  cannot  be  reduced  into 
the  metallic  state  by  mere  application  of  heat.  Of  these 
the  most  useful  and  interesting  are  malleable;  in  other 
words,  they  are  flattened  when  struck  by  the  hammer, 
instead  of  being  broken  like  a  stone.  This  very  real  and 
important  practical  condition  is  one  that  divides  the 
inetals  into  two  well- marked  groups.  Seven  of  the  best- 
known  metals  are  malleable,  and  only  five  are  brittle, 
while  there  are  nine  rare  and  unfamiliar  base  brittle 
metals,  and  only  one  unfamiliar  metal  that  can  be  ham- 
mered. The  property  of  flattening  under  the  hammer 
is  thus  a  good  characteristic;  and  it  is  found  that  the 
brittle  metals  are  chiefly  useful  either  to  mix  with  and 
harden  the  others,  or  for  properties  which  seem  to  have 
little  to  do  with  their  metallic  character. 

Of  the  metals  that  may  be  hammered,  we  may  begin 
with  COPPER,  remarkable  for  its  color,  its  toughness,  its 
power  of  mixing  advantageously  with  other  metals,  its 
high  value,  and  its  durability.  In  itself  it  is  not  very 
hard,  but,  mixed  with  a  little  iron  and  tin,  it  becomes 
almost  as  hard  as  steel.  Of  a  dull  red  color,  it  assumes 
the  color  of  gold  when  mixed  with  a  little  of  the  clay 
metal  aluminium;  it  makes  brass  when  mixed  with  zinc, 
and  affords  several  other  valuable  yellow  compounds  with 
zinc,  lead,  and  tin;  mixed  with  tin  only,  it  produces 
bronze,  a  most  valuable  hard  alloy,  used  for  guns,  for 
public  monuments,  and  to  a  large  extent  now  for  small 
coins.  At  least  three  thousand  tons'  weight  of  metal 
are  required  for  the  latter  purpose  in  England  only.  Of 
this  the  proportion  of  tin  is  four  parts,  and  of  zinc  one 
part,  in  a  hundred :  the  rest  is  copper. 


304      THE    TREASURES    CONTAINED    IN    THE    BOOK. 

Copper  has  been  in  use  from  time  immemorial.  Ob- 
tained by  the  ancients  from  the  island  of  Cyprus,  it  was 
called  for  a  time  ses  Cyprium,  or  the  Cyprian  metal. 
Thence  the  name  Cuprum  was  derived,  and  from  this 
most  of  the  modern  European  names — copper,  cuivre, 
kupfer,  cobre,  &c. — have  been  derived. 

Copper  is  found  sometimes  in  very  large  quantities, 
nearly  pure,  or  mixed  only  with  silver  and  a  little  quartz. 
In  this  state  a  block  weighing  500  tons  was  lately  dis- 
covered in  the  mines  on  Lake  Superior.  It  is  so  very 
tough  a  substance,  that  when  these  large  masses  are  dis- 
covered they  are  very  difficult  to  take  out  of  the  mine. 
As  many  as  forty  men,  working  continually  for  twelve 
months,  were  required  to  remove  the  block  just  alluded 
to.  But  the  value  is  very  great,  varying  from  a£80  to 
£120  sterling  per  ton.  At  £100  a  ton,  the  block  in 
question  would  be  worth  £50,000,  and  well  pay  any  ex- 
pense of  getting,  refining,  and  carrying  to  market. 

The  usual  mode  in  which  copper  is  found  is  either  as 
a  hard  metallic  stone  of  a  yellowish  color,  called  copper 
pyrites,  or  as  a  softer  and  very  beautiful  green  stone, 
called  malachite.  There  are  many  other  varieties,  some 
common  enough  in  certain  places,  and  quite  different 
from  these.  Among  them  we  may  mention  a  peculiar 
black  earth  (black  oxide),  and  a  gray  stone,  the  latter 
metallic  in  its  appearance,  and  not  unlike  black  lead. 
From  these  the  copper  is  obtained  by  a  long  and  difficult 
series  of  operations,  beginning  with  roasting,  and  involv- 
ing a  frequent  refining. 

Malachite  is  a  wonderfully  beautiful  stone,  used  some- 
times as  a  marble,  or  even  as  a  gem,  and  at  other  times 


SOURCES    OF    METALLIC    WEALTH.  305 

as  an  ore  from  which  the  metal  is  obtained.  The  finest 
malachites  are  obtained  from  Siberia,  whence  the  raw 
material  has  been  quarried  for  those  magnificent  speci- 
mens of  green  marble  which  grace  the  palaces  of  the 
world.  The  largest  quantities  come  from  Australia, 
where,  however,  the  quality  is  not  so  fine. 

LEAD  is  another  metal  of  great  value,  and  tolerably 
abundant  in  most  parts  of  the  world.  Most  of  the  great 
lead  deposits  consist  of  a  combination  of  sulphur  with  the 
metal ;  but  though  the  sulphurets  of  lead  (galena^  are 
very  widely  spread,  they  are  not  the  only  valuable  ores. 
Carbonates  are  common,  especially  in  those  numerous 
instances  where  limestones  enclose  the  lead-vein.  Lead 
is  never  found  in  a  native  state  as  a  pure  metal,  and 
when  obtained  from  the  ore  it  is  generally  mixed  with 
silver.  It  is,  however,  reduced  without  much  difficulty, 
as  it  melts  at  a  low  temperature,  and,  as  already  stated  in 
speaking  of  silver,  separates  readily  from  that  metal  while 
cooling. 

Pure  lead  is  used  in  sheets  or  pipes  for  various  pur- 
poses; but  it  is  dangerous,  as  pure  water  dissolves  a  part 
of  it  and  becomes  very  poisonous :  when  used  for  house- 
hold purposes,  great  care  is  required.  It  mixes  with 
many  other  metals,  and  forms  some  useful  and  important 
alloys.  Thus,  with  tin  it  makes  pewter  and  the  solder 
used  by  glaziers;  with  tin  and  antimony  it  becomes  hard, 
and  slightly  enlarges  while  cooling,  thus  forming  a  most 
useful  compound  for  such  purposes  as  type-metal.  Al- 
loyed with  arsenic,  by  which  it  is  much  hardened,  lead 
becomes  available  for  shot;  and  other  combinations  are 
known.  The  oxide  of  lead  is  called  irwissicot  and  litharge, 
26* 


306   THE  TREASURES  CONTAINED  IN  THE  BOOK. 

used  in  making  flint  glass,  and  for  many  other  purposes. 
Another  combination,  with  oxygen,  is  called  red  lead, 
and  is  useful  as  a  pigment,  though  dangerous  from  its 
poisonous  properties.  Carbonate  of  lead,  as  white  lead, 
is  a  valuable  paint,  though  injurious,  as  are  so  many  of 
the  combinations  of  lead  to  those  exposed  to  their  influ- 
ence. A  yellow  paint  is  obtained  from  the  chr ornate  of 
lead;  and  sugar  of  lead  (the  acetate  obtained  by  the 
action  of  vinegar  or  acetic  acid  on  sheet  lead)  is  used  in 
dyeing,  and  for  many  purposes,  but  is  also  poisonous. 

Lead,  like  copper,  has  been  used  from  the  most  ancient 
times.  It  is  easily  recognized  as  an  ore,  owing  to  its 
great  weight  as  compared  with  other  stones. 

IRON. — Although  it  seems  certain  that  hard  bronze 
was  long  in  common  use  for  many  purposes  now  supplied 
by  iron,  before  iron  and  steel  had  been  generally  intro- 
duced, it  is  quite  impossible  to  state  when  or  how  this 
extremely  abundant  and  useful,  but  most  refractory,  metal 
was  first  discovered.  It  rarely  exists  native  except  in  a 
few  stones  that  seem  to  have  come  to  the  earth  from  with- 
out. It  is  found,  however,  in  a  vast  variety  of  forms, 
mixed  in  larger  or  smaller  quantity  with  almost  all  earths, 
and  occasionally  in  vast  quantities  in  different  districts. 
England  is  especially  rich  in  the  earthy  ores;  Sweden 
contains  extremely  large  deposits  of  the  oxide,  valuable 
for  making  the  best  kinds  of  steel;  but  there  are  few,  if 
any,  countries  without  a  supply  in  some  form  or  other. 
The  common  clay  ironstones  of  Great  Britain  have  long 
been  the  sources  whence  iron  has  been  manufactured  to 
supply  the  world.  No  sooner  had  symptoms  of  ex- 
haustion shown  themselves  in  one  district,  than  fresh 


SOURCES   OF    METALLIC    WEALTH.  307 

deposits,  almost  indefinitely  large,  were  discovered  in  an- 
other; and  there  is  now  no  doubt  that,  while  fuel  lasts, 
the  ores  of  iron  will  not  fail. 

Iron  is  wonderfully  tenacious :  when  pure,  it  requires 
the  full  heat  of  a  smith's  forge  to  fuse ;  but  in  the  form 
of  pig  it  melts  at  a  much  lower  temperature.  It  is  very 
malleable,  especially  at  a  high  temperature,  and  when  red- 
hot  two  surfaces  may  be  united  firmly  and  permanently 
by  hammering.  This  is  called  welding,  and  is  a  quality 
possessed  by  a  very  small  number  of  metals. 

Some  of  the  ores  of  iron  are  used  in  the  arts.  Thus, 
a  peculiar  red  or  dark-brown  ore  (Jisematite),  when  re- 
duced to  a  fine  powder,  is  valuable  for  burnishing  and 
polishing  glass.  Yellow  ochre  is  a  common  pigment. 
Iron  pyrites  is  hardly  so  much  an  ore  of  iron  as  of  sul- 
phur :  it  is  abundant  and  much  used. 

TIN  is  a  metal  of  considerable  value,  but,  unlike  those 
hitherto  mentioned,  is  limited  to  a  very  few  localities, 
and  is  hardly  ever  met  with  except  in  the  one  form  of 
oxide.  It  is  a  beautiful  white  metal,  more  resembling 
silver  than  any  other,  and  takes  a  high  polish.  It  may 
be  beaten  into  thin  leaves,  which  crackle  and  give  out  a 
peculiar  odor  when  handled.  It  melts  easily,  and  burns 
with  a  bright  flame.  It  coats  iron  with  great  facility, 
and  the  plates  thus  covered  are  called  tin-plate.  It  also 
coats  copper.  The  salts  are  valuable  in  dyeing  and  calico- 
printing.  The  metal  is  quite  as  much  used  to  modify 
others  by  mixing  with  them  as  by  itself.  Thus,  with 
copper  it  makes  bronze,  bell-metal,  &c.,  and  with  bis- 
muth and  lead  several  curious  compounds.  Tin  has  been 
long  known,  and  was  certainly  mined  in  Britain  before 


308   THE  TREASURES  CONTAINED  IN  THE  BOOK. 

the  invasion  of  the  Romans.  It  is  still  obtained  chiefly 
from  Cornwall,  though  considerable  quantities  are  brought 
from  some  of  the  islands  of  the  Eastern  Archipelago, 
and  it  has  been  discovered  in  Australia. 

ZINC,  as  a  metal,  is  of  recent  discovery,  though  one 
of  its  ores,  calamine,  was  commonly  employed  to  mix 
with  copper  from  the  earliest  period,  in  order  to  form 
brass.  The  metal  passes  off  so  rapidly  into  the  air  at  a 
low  temperature,  in  the  form  of  a  white  cloud,  that  the 
metallic  character  -  was  long  concealed.  Although  mal- 
leable, zinc  is  tough,  brittle,  and  unmanageable,  except 
within  narrow  limits  of  temperature.  At  the  boiling- 
point  of  water  it  may  easily  be  worked ;  but  at  a  slightly 
greater  heat  it  may  be  pounded  in  a  mortar,  and  when 
cold  it  can  hardly  be  bent.  It  is  a  beautiful  bluish-white 
metal,  tarnishing  slightly  on  exposure,  but  not  wearing 
rapidly.  It  is  very  much  used  for  baths,  window  sashes 
and  frames,  chimney-pots,  and  many  other  purposes.  It 
is  also  used  as  an  alloy,  not  only  with  copper,  to  make 
brass,  but  with  other  metals  of  more  or  less  importance. 

NICKEL  is  often  seen  as  a  separate  metal,  but  is  largely 
used  in  the  manufacture  of  German  silver,  of  which,  how- 
ever, it  only  forms  four  parts  out  of  a  hundred,  the  rest 
being  chiefly  copper  with  a  little  zinc.  Different  propor 
tions  produce  other  white  metals,  much  used  in  other 
countries  in  place  of  silver.  This  result  is  singular,  as 
the  red  color  of  the  copper  is  completely  lost  by  this  slight 
admixture  of  other  metals.  The  ores  of  nickel  are  rare  : 
some  look  metallic,  but  others  are  earthy.  They  are 
chiefly  mixtures  with  arsenic.  Nickel  is  malleable.  It 
is  remarkable  that  meteoric  stones,  falling  on  the  earth 


SOURCES    OF    METALLIC    WEALTH.  309 

from  the  atmosphere,  consist  chiefly  of  iron;  combined 
with  nickel. 

COBALT  is  never  used  as  a  metal,  its  value,  which  is 
very  considerable,  being  entirely  derived  from  the  use  of 
the  oxides  as  a  pigment.  They  produce  the  finest  and 
most  durable  blue  color  known,  especially  for  staining 
glass  or  coloring  porcelain,  in  both  which  operations  the 
color  has  to  be  burnt  in.  Like  nickel,  the  ores  are  usually 
combinations  with  arsenic.  One  of  them  is  a  tin-white 
metallic-looking  mineral ;  another  is  remarkable  for  its 
beautiful  color,  like  the  bloom  of  a  peach. 

These  are  all  the  malleable  metals.  Bismuth,  anti- 
mony, and  arsenic  remain  to  be  considered  as  useful  brittle 
metals,  easily  melted ;  and  manganese  and  chromium,  also 
useful,  but  fusible  with  great  difficulty. 

ARSENIC  has  already  been  mentioned,  as  occurring 
with  cobalt  and  nickel.  It  is  also  found  native  and  with 
many  of  the  metals.  As  a  metal,  it  is  useless.  As  a 
mineral,  it  is  one  of  the  most  poisonous.  Its  presence  is 
readily  detected  by  the  garlic-like  fumes  it  gives  off  when 
heated.  There  are  two  ores,  one  transparent  and  of  a 
beautiful  clear  cochineal-red,  called  realgar ;  the  other 
less  transparent,  and  of  a  beautiful  orange-yellow.  It  is 
called  orpimentj  and  is  used  as  the  basis  of  the  pigment 
called  king's  yellow.  Although  a  violent  poison,  arsenic 
is  habitually  consumed  without  injury  by  the  people  in 
gome  parts  of  the  Tyrol.  It  is  used  as  medicine. 

ANTIMONY  is  also  occasionally  found  native,  but  very 
seldom.  It  is  almost  always  mixed  with  sulphur,  and 
affords  a  brilliant  and  beautiful  metallic  ore.  Though 
not  used  alone,  antimony,  arsenic,  and  the  other  brittle 


310   THE  TREASURES  CONTAINED  IN  THE  BOOK. 

metals,  are  of  considerable  value  in  hardening  the  mal- 
leable metals  for  certain  special  purposes.  Type-metal, 
hard  pewter,  and  Britannia  metal,  are  examples.  The 
lead  on  which  music  is  engraved  is  hardened  by  a  small 
mixture  of  antimony.  Gold  cannot  be  hammered  if 
alloyed  with  a  little  of  this  curious  metal. 

BISMUTH  is  another  brittle  metal,  with  curious  pro- 
perties. It  is  found  native,  generally  with  arsenic ;  but 
its  peculiarity  is  to  render  any  metal  mixed  with  it 
much  more  fusible.  What  is  called  plumber's  solder  is  a 
mixture  of  this  kind.  Eight  parts  of  bismuth,  five  lead, 
and  three  tin,  constitute  a  metal  which  will  melt  at  a  heat 
below  that  of  boiling  water.  A  little  mercury  added 
makes  it  still  more  fusible.  Tricks  are  sometimes  played 
by  making  spoons  of  this  metal  and  offering  them  for 
use.  The  salts  of  bismuth  are  used  in  dyeing  and  as  a 
cosmetic. 

MANGANESE  is  a  metal  never  used,  and  very  rarely 
seen.  Its  ores  are  black.  They  are  valuable  for  various 
purposes,  being  very  widely  diffused  and  employed  in 
bleaching,  dyeing,  calico-printing,  and  in  glazing  and 
coloring  pottery.  The  umber  of  commerce  is  obtained 
from  the  ore  called  wad.  Oxygen  gas  is  given  off  readily 
by  heating  the  ores  of  manganese.  One  ore  of  manganese 
is  capable  of  taking  a  high  polish,  and  is  used  for  inlaid 
work  as  a  spar.  Many  of  the  manganese  ores,  and  stones 
where  traces  of  the  metal  occur,  are  remarkable  for  their 
pink  color. 

CHROMIUM  is  another  of  the  metals,  brittle,  not  easily 
melted,  altogether  without  any  known  use  as  a  metal,  but 


SOURCES   OP    METALLIC   WEALTH.  311 

valuable  in  the  arts  from  the  color  derived  from  it. 
The  only  ore  is  a  combination  of  the  oxide  of  the  metal 
with  iron  and  earthy  substances.  It  is  found  in  England 
in  serpentine  and  other  green  magnesian  rocks;  but  there 
are  many  known  localities  in  various  parts  of  the  world. 
It  is  very  extensively  used  as  a  pigment  for  dyeing,  and  in 
all  those  cases  in  which  the  color  has  to  be  burnt  into  the 
material. 

Besides  the  metals  and  ores  we  have  described,  there 
are  many  others  less  common.  These  are  interesting 
rather  to  the  chemist  who  analyzes  than  to  the  geologist 
who  observes  them.  They  are  some  of  them  curious,  and 
have  remarkable  properties,  but  rather  as  earths  than 
metals. 

It  is  a  curious  fact,  determined  of  late  years  by  a  series 
of  observations  on  the  nature  of  light  and  color,  that 
many  of  the  metals  forming  part  of  our  earth  are  present 
also  in  the  sun,  and  even  in  some  of  the  fixed  stars  whose 
light  has  been  examined.  As  it  has  been  known  almost 
from  time  immemorial  that  foreign  substances  occasion- 
ally fall  to  the  earth  from  or  through  the  air,  and  these 
are  generally  composed  of  a  rare  mixture  of  familiar 
metals,  there  is  some  reason  to  suppose  that  various  small 
bodies,  composed  of  similar  elements,  are  floating  about 
in  the  universe,  not  far  from  us,  and  that  these  are  from 
time  to  time  brought  within  our  influence.  Since  no 
new  element  has  been  introduced  in  the  fallen  stones,  one 
is  thus  led  to  speculate  on  the  possibility  of  a  common 
origin  of  our  own  earth  and  the  other  bodies  of  our  solar 
system,  and  that  some  fragments  of  similar  matter,  broken 


312   THE  TREASURES  CONTAINED  IN  THE  BOOK. 

away  from  an  old  planet,  or  strayed  from  a  comet,  or  per- 
haps in  course  of  collection  by  a  comet,  may  yield  the 
aerolites  or  meteorites  that  have  so  often  caused  wonder 
and  alarm.  The  indications  of  this  state  of  things  are 
more  numerous  and  complete  than  is  generally  sup- 
posed. 


THE    CIRCULATION    OF   WATER. 

OF  the  many  conditions  of  Nature  that  require  to  com- 
bine, in  order  that  our  earth  may  be  the  abode  of  living 
beings  having  the  wants  and  habits  of  those  now  dwell- 
ing on  it,  there  is  none  more  remarkable  than  that  which 
has  secured  for  us  a  constant  circulation  of  water, — in  the 
air,  on  the  earth,  and  within  the  earth.  The  mere  fact 
that  with  us  there  are  three  conditions  of  matter — solid, 
fluid,  and  gaseous — is  itself,  as  far  as  we  can  judge,  a  state 
of  things  by  no  means  always  met  with  in  planets.  The 
moon  does  not  seem  to  possess  a  similar  arrangement : 
Mars  probably  does,  but  Jupiter  may  be  regarded  as 
doubtful.  We  can  hardly  guess  at  some  of  the  other 
planets.  Taking  the  earth  as  we  find  it,  however,  it  is 
very  interesting  to  see  how  the  three  states  of  matter  seem 
always  to  have  characterized  every  part  of  its  history. 

Water  in  abundance  rests  on  the  surface ;  the  air  con- 
tains water  in  large  quantity;  and  almost  all  the  rocks 
contain  a  certain  quantity  of  water,  either  in  such  a  state 
that  it  courses  freely  from  one  part  to  another,  or  closely 
shut  in  and  buried  in  the  very  substance  of  the  most 
solid  minerals. 

Water  is,  indeed,  present  in  two  distinct  ways  in  rocks. ' 
Except  lava  and  such-like  material,  once  certainly  fluid 
27  313 


814   THE  TREASURES  CONTAINED  IN  THE  BOOK. 

from  heat,  every  kind  of  stone,  including  granite  and 
marble,  contains  a  certain  percentage  of  water  as  one  of 
its  component  parts.  The  proportion  is  not  large;  but, 
from  the  universality  of  the  fact,  the  quantity  of  water 
thus  locked  up  is  very  considerable.  But  in  addition  to 
this,  and  quite  independent  of  it,  there  is  a  far  larger 
quantity  of  water  occupying  innumerable  cracks  and  cre- 
vices in  rocks,  running  between  beds,  oozing  through 
narrow  channels  in  all  sorts  of  unexpected  places,  occu- 
pying caverns  and  veins,  existing  in  pools  (often  under 
great  pressure)  at  various  depths,  issuing  in  natural 
springs  at  hill-sides  in  some  countries,  and  even  on  moun- 
tain-tops, or  reached  by  artificial  borings  in  all  parts  of 
the  world.  We  are  so  accustomed  to  find  fresh  pure 
water  wherever  we  require  it — we  are  so  familiar  with 
the  custom  of  digging  a  hole  into  the  substance  of  the 
earth  in  order  to  reach  this  fluid — that  the  nature  of  the 
continuous  supply,  and  the  circulation  that  takes  place 
in  order  to  insure  it,  are  hardly  thought  of.  These  are, 
however,  subjects  as  interesting  as  they  are  important. 

The  history  of  the  Great  Stone  Book  is  given  in  the 
preceding  chapters.  It  points  out  that  the  earth  is  made 
up  of  numerous  beds  or  strata  of  rock  of  different  mate- 
rial,— some  absorbing  water,  some  letting  it  pass  freely, 
some  stopping  it  altogether.-  The  additional  facts  de- 
termined concerning  the  fractures  of  these  rocks,  the 
way  the  rocks  have  been  tilted,  the  way  in  which  deep 
cracks  have  been  sometimes  left  open  and  sometimes  filled 
with  hard  material,  the  mutual  intercommunication  that 
exist/ far  out  of  sight,  and  the  9pen  passage  thus  afforded 
to  water,  are  also  illustrated  by  the  history  there  given. 


THE   CIRCULATION   OF   WATER.  315 

There  is  something  exceedingly  grand  and  deeply  in- 
teresting in  following  the  course  of  a  few  drops  of  water 
in  its  circulation  though  the  great  terrestrial  system. 
Covering  two-thirds  of  the  surface  is  the  great  world 
of  water,  and  above  sea  and  land  floats  a  veil  of  gases. 
We  do  not  see  all  the  water.  Part  of  it,  as  we  have 
described,  is  fast  locked  up  in  the  solid  rock;  part 
of  it  is  always  held  in  an  invisible  state  in  the  air ;  and 
part,  again,  is  sometimes  visible,  sometimes  invisible, 
ranging  over  earth  and  through  the  air,  and  ready  at  the 
slightest  signal  to  move  and  distribute  itself. 

Water  is  always  present  in  the  air,  sucked  up  and  held 
by  it  something  in  the  way  that  sugar  or  salt  is  sucked 
up  and  held  by  pure  water.  The  air  itself  is  a  mixture 
of  gases,  and  the  vapor  in  it  is  like  a  third  gas.  Just  ag 
hot  water  dissolves  more  sugar  or  salt  than  cold  water,  so 
hot  air  holds  more  water  than  cold  air.  Air,  heated  by 
the  vertical  rays  of  a  tropical  sun,  and  passing  over  the 
sea,  becomes  loaded  with  vapor;  and  as  it  afterwards  ap- 
proaches land  and  comes  in  contact  with  cooler  air,  espe- 
cially on  the  sides  of  mountains,  it  can  no  longer  hold  so 
large  a  quantity  of  water  as  before.  Clouds  are  formed, 
and  rain  falls.  The  air  is  cleared  and  passes  on,  cooled 
and  deprived  of  part  of  its  load,  to  some  place  where  it 
is  again  heated,  and  where  once  more  it  absorbs  water. 

The  solid  materials  of  the  earth  we  have  already  con- 
sidered. Almost  all  were  originally  formed  in  and  with 
water;  they  have  been  rendered  hard  and  compact  under 
water;  they  have  existed  for  unnumbered  ages  always 
under  water;  and  when  deprived  of  water  they  have 
shrunk  and  cracked. 


316   THE  TREASURES  CONTAINED  IN  THE  BOOK. 

All  stones  contain  water.  Even  the  driest  and  most 
solid-looking  marble  used  by  the  sculptor  contains  at 
least  one  part  in  two  hundred  of  water :  in  other  words, 
in  a  block  of  two  hundred  weight  there  is  at  least  a  pint 
of  water.  Other  hard  dry  limestones  contain  as  much 
as  four  parts  in  a  hundred,  or  half  a  gallon  of  water  in  a 
hundred  weight  of  stone. 

But  stones  are  not  only  made  with  and  always  contain 
water,  but  they  are  very  porous  and  spongy,  and  suck  in 
great  quantities  when  exposed  to  rain  or  soaked  in  a 
stream.  Thus,  Bath  stone,  of  the  kind  generally  met 
with  in  buildings,  and  some  other  limestones  commonly 
used,  will  suck  in  as  much  as  nine  gallons  of  water  on  a 
surface  a  yard  square  and  only  a  foot  thick.  When 
thicker,  it  will  continue  to  absorb,  though  not  in  the  same 
proportion.  A  surface  of  chalk  will  absorb  twice  as 
much,  and  sands  are  much  more  porous  even  than  such 
stones. 

Of  all  the  rocks  that  make  up  the  earth,  there  are  few 
of  those  met  with  at  the  surface  in  our  country  that  will 
not  suck  up  water  with  extreme  rapidity  and  in  very 
large  quantity  ;  and  when  we  come  to  an  actual  calcula- 
tion, the  absorbing  power  of  the  surface,  when  dry,  is 
found  to  be  so  extremely  great  as  to  suck  in  almost  any 
amount  of  rain  that  can  fall.  It  rarely  happens,  indeed, 
except  in  hot  summer  weather,  that  the  earth  is  so  dry 
as  to  absorb  at  any  thing  like  the  rate  we  have  mentioned  j 
but  on  the  other  hand,  in  addition  to  the  means  we  have 
considered,  there  are  cracks  and  crevices  innumerable, 
the  consequence  of  exposure  to  the  weather  previously; 
and  thus  the  water  is  not  only  absorbed  slowly  at  the 


THE    CIRCULATION    OF    WATER.  317 

surface,  but  pours  down  these  open  cracks,  arid  gives  the 
rocks  in  the  interior  an  opportunity  of  becoming  saturated. 

Water  is,  then,  present  in  the  earth's  interior  in  ex- 
tremely large  quantity:  it  is  continually  being  received, 
because  it  is  continually  being  removed.  Under  every 
space  a  mile  square  there  is  water  enough  present  in 
a  thickness  of  a  thousand  yards  to  fill  a  pond  of  the 
same  area  whose  depth  of  water  might  be  many  yards  or 
even  scores  of  yards. 

Let  us  now  bring  together  the  general  results  of  this 
inquiry,  and  endeavor  to  illustrate  in  a  few  words  the  use 
and  influence  of  water  in  the  interior  of  the  earth. 

Although  not  a  simple  substance,  water  is  a  compound 
of  which  the  composing  elements  possess  affinities  so 
powerful,  that  the  agency  of  electricity  appears  to  be 
involved  both  in  its  formation  and  decomposition.  The 
conversion  or  production  of  water  involves  heat,  elec- 
tricity, and  chemical  action,  and  this  conversion  is  always 
going  on,  for  water  is  everywhere  present :  no  known  or 
conceivable  conditions  of  matter,  consistent  with  the  pre- 
sence of  more  than  very  small  quantities,  appear  to  be 
free  from  it;  hardly  any  combinations  of  simple  sub- 
stances are  altogether  without  it,  and  no  large  quantities 
of  simple  substances  deprived  of  it  exist  on  or  near  the 
earth's  surface. 

Water  absorbs  every  thing  and  is  absorbed  by  every 
thing.  Itself  a  liquid,  it  enters  into  the  composition  of 
almost  all  solids,  almost  as  an  essential  to  solidity.  As  a 
solid,  it  has  its  own  special  value  and  properties.  It  is 
equally  important  in  the  state  of  vapor,  for  steam  repre- 
sents power  not  only  available  for  man's  machinery,  but 
27* 


318   THE  TREASURES  CONTAINED  IN  THE  BOOK. 

largely  used  in  the  workshop  of  Nature.  In  every  con- 
dition and  at  every  change  it  is  connected  with  heat  and 
electricity.  Besides  being  present  in  almost  all  mineral 
matter,  it  enters  also  into  the  composition  of  every  solid 
and  every  fluid  of  which  each  part  of  every  living  thing 
is  formed. 

Let  us  trace  its  course  from  its  great  receptacle  the 
ocean,  where  it  occupies  and  conceals  depressions  which 
are  little  more  than  wrinkled  or  furrowed  markings  on 
the  earth,  and  which,  if  they  could  be  seen  from  our 
satellite  the  moon,  must  appear  very  small,  compared  with 
the  variations  of  level  on  that  body. 

Kept  in  incessant  motion  in  all  parts  of  the  ocean  by 
tidal  influences  and  winds,  water  rising  as  vapor  from  its 
surface  is  received  between  the  particles  of  mixed  gases 
that  form  our  atmosphere,  and  there  becomes  subject  to 
influences  of  temperature  and  electricity;  and  these  are 
constantly  changing  by  the  revolution  of  the  earth  on  its 
axis,  of  the  moon  round  the  earth,  of  the  earth  and  moon 
round  the  sun,  and  of  our  whole  system  in  space. 

Lifted  as  vapor,  it  is  drifted  along,  either  in  an  invi- 
sible or  visible  form,  until  it  reaches  land.  Once  there, 
it  is  set  free,  and  large  quantities  fall  to  the  earth.  Part 
of  what  falls  is  re-evaporated;  part  serves  to  quench  the 
thirst  of  every  leaf  and  root,  as  well  as  every  mouth  and 
skin,  exposed  to  its  influence;  part  again  runs  on  the 
surface, — the  mountain-torrent,  the  brook,  and  the  river 
carrying  back  this  proportion  to  the  parent  ocean.  Part 
of  it  whitens  the  lofty  mountain-top,  or  collects  in  icy 
masses  in  the  sheltered  valleys. 

But  a  large  part  enters  the  earth.     The  earth  and  the 


THE    CIRCULATION    OP    WATER.  319 

sands  are  thirsty,  as  well  as  the  leaf  and  the  skin :  they 
not  only  drink  in  an  abundant  supply,  but  they  convey 
downwards  some  portion;  and  this  reaches  the  interior 
through  the  crevices  of  hard  rocks,  or  the  porous  sub- 
stance of  those  that  are  softer. 

This  supply  is  so  ample  that  abundant  springs  gush  out 
from  the  hill-sides,  or  are  ever  ready  to  rise  through  open- 
ings prepared  for  them  by  Nature  or  man. 

The  ultimate  residuum,  after  all  this  lavish  supply  has 
been  granted,  is  still  an  important  quantity. 

And  now  is  forced  upon  us  a  view  of  Nature,  and  of 
the  operations  of  Nature  in  the  interior  of  the  earth, 
which  is  almost  oppressive,  from  the  extreme  difficulty 
the  human  mind  has  in  grasping  a  conception  so  opposed, 
it  may  seem,  to  the  evidence  of  the  senses. 

We  speak  of  the  grave  as  silent ;  we  think  of  the 
ground  and  the  rock  as  permanent,  and  almost  as  if  they 
were  eternal.  We  cannot  feel  that  all  beneath  our  feet 
is  changing,  and  that  there  is  a  kind  of  life  even  in  dead 
matter.  We  cannot  see  it,  but  a  circulation  really  goes 
on  in  all  material  substances,  and  it  is  consistent  with 
apparent  and  external  repose;  for  if  we  examine  and 
carefully  describe  an  object  or  a  state  of  matter  at  one 
time,  and  afterwards,  after  a  sufficient  interval,  repeat 
our  investigation,  we  may  find  perhaps  the  same  form  but 
a  different  substance :  there  may  be  the  same  appearance, 
but  there  is  a  new  and  changed  texture. 

Nature,  indeed,  knows  no  repose.  The  minute  atoms 
of  which  solids  are  formed,  however  compactly  placed 
they  may  seem,  are  removed  from  each  other  by  a  dis- 
tance which  is  large  in  proportion  to  their  size, — large 


320   THE  TREASURES  CONTAINED  IN  THE  BOOK. 

enough,  at  any  rate,  to  admit  of  any  amount  of  motion 
among  themselves, — large  enough  to  let  atoms  of  other 
matter  circulate  among  and  replace  them, — large  enough 
to  allow  the  combined  atoms  of  hydrogen  and  oxygen, 
as  water,  to  penetrate  them. 

The  mud  deposited  to-day  at  the  mouths  of  the  Rhine, 
the  Granges,  or  the  Mississippi  is  a  mechanical  mixture 
of  lime  and  clay  and  water  with  grains  of  sand,  frag- 
ments of  wood  and  bone,  marine  and  fresh-water  shells, 
and  particles  of  iron  oxide.  With  them  is  the  infinity 
of  miscellaneae  that  are  brought  together  by  fresh  water 
running  over  a  surface  of  land  which  is  covered  with 
vegetation  and  with  animal  life,  and  ultimately  the  river 
terminates  its  course  and  deposits  its  load  where  it  meets 
the  tidal  wave  of  salt  water. 

This  mud  deposited  to-day  will  be  buried  to-morrow, 
and  in  the  course  of  centuries  will  be  covered  up  thickly, 
and  remain  permanently  buried  for  a  long  time. 

What  then  will  happen?  Will  all  remain  quiet? 
Having  entered  Nature's  great  laboratory,  will  these 
materials  be  left  there  inert  and  idle  ?  Such  an  idea  is 
little  in  accordance  with  what  we  know  of  the  course 
of  Nature,  either  now  or  at  any  period  of  the  earth's 
history. 

First,  decomposition  will  commence,  or  will  go  on  if  it 
had  already  commenced,  in  the  organic  matter.  Gases 
will  be  evolved, — these  will  affect  the  other  compounds 
otherwise  permanent;  elective  affinities  will  be  called 
into  play,  and  a  general  rearrangement  will  take  place  of 
all  the  particles,  until  they  attain  a  first  state  of  tempo- 
rary equilibrium.  During  all  this  time  they  are  satu- 


THE    CIRCULATION    OF    WATER.  321 

rated  with  water,  a  heavy  column  of  water  presses  upon 
them,  and  their  temperature  is  more  or  less  equable  in 
proportion  to  the  depth  of  the  deposit. 

By  degrees  the  water  gets  to  a  certain  extent  squeezed 
out  of  them,  and  they  become  solid  instead  of  pulpy. 
The  attraction  of  cohesion  acts,  and  at  last  the  wet  pulpy 
mud  either  becomes  changed  into  tough  clay,  or  a  sort 
of  half-formed  limestone  results,  or  perhaps  the  mass  re- 
mains loose  sand. 

Then  come  into  play  those  movements  of  the  earth's 
surface  of  which  there  are  examples  in  most  countries. 
The  ground  sinks,  the  deposit  continues;  and  at  length 
the  mud  of  yesterday,  kept  at  a  steady  even  tempera- 
ture of  some  200°  or  300°  under  great  pressure  of 
earth  and  water,  is  exposed  to  those  magnetic  cur- 
rents which  circulate  through  the  earth.  Then  begins 
a  fresh  series  of  changes,  crystallization  starting  at 
some  atom  of  foreign  matter.  Clayey  mud  passes  into 
tough  clay,  lime-mud  passes  into  beds  of  limestone, 
impurities  and  foreign  substances  accumulate  together 
in  bands,  the  shells  become  crystalline  and  are  cemented 
together;  undecomposed  wood  tends  to  become  coal,  silica 
takes  the  place  of  some  of  the  organic  matter;  the 
sulphur  and  phosphorus  set  free  from  animal  matter 
enter  into  new  combinations;  the  mass,  in  drying,  con- 
tracts irregularly,  and  is  full  of  cracks  and  fissures;  and 
among  these  water  circulates,  forced  through  at  a  tempe- 
rature corresponding  to  the  depth,  carrying  with  it  from 
place  to  place  various  minerals, — removing  them  from  one 
point,  leaving  them  behind  at  others,  according  to  the 
nature  of  the  chemical  operations  going  on. 


322   THE  TREASURES  CONTAINED  IN  THE  BOOK. 

After  a  time  the  beds  sink  lower,  the  clays  become 
subject  to  greater  pressure,  the  limestones  become  com- 
pact and  pass  into  marble,  and  the  metals,  combined  with 
oxygen  or  sulphur,  group  themselves  together  in  cavities 
with  other  minerals,  earthy  and  crystalline. 

One  step  more :  elevation  begins.  The  clays  are  now 
subjected  to  pressure  from  below  as  well  as  from  above; 
and  under  this  double  squeeze  they  become  twisted  and 
bent  like  pieces  of  cloth,  and  they  also  assume  a  new 
lamination.  They  become  slates.  Some  of  the  sand- 
stones have  by  this  time  been  converted  into  quartzite, 
and  the  limestone  has  completed  its  crystallization. 
When  elevation  comes,  these  hard  beds,  being  brittle,  are 
broken,  leaving  large  open  spaces  and  great  cavities  be- 
neath the  surface.  Here  also  water  collects. 

Yet  again.  Far  down,  at  a  depth  of  tens  of  thousands 
of  yards,  and  therefore  under  great  pressure,  water,  in 
company  with  the  minerals  which  form  granite,  accumu- 
lates in  a  mixed  mass;  and  a  slow  but  incessant  crystal- 
lization goes  on,  in  which  the  water  is  entangled  with  the 
other  minerals  and  helps  to  form  a  part  of  the  substance 
of  each  crystal.  We  may  even  imitate  the  effect  by 
bringing  the  causes  to  bear. 

But  in  all  this  there  is  no  melting,  such  as  we  have 
in  volcanic  rocks.  In  these  latter  water  is  not  present 
in  the  same  way. 

They  were  formed  much  nearer  the  surface;  they  be- 
long to  a  different  class  of  phenomena.  Their  origin  is 
detected  by  the  absence  of  water  in  them. 

Wherever  change  has  taken  place  at  great  depth, — - 


THE   CIRCULATION   OF   WATER.  323 

wherever  is  seen  a  rich  variety  of  minerals  and  a  valua- 
ble supply  of  metals, — there  water  has  acted. 

Water  carried  down  in  the  rocks  that  descend  is  worked 
up  into  new  forms,  and  is  only  returned  to  the  surface 
when  it  has  done  its  work  and  when  other  supplies  from 
above  have  replaced  it. 

And  in  time  the  rocks  thus  elaborated  rise  again. 
Some,  sunk  only  to  a  small  depth,  will  have  been  little 
altered,  and  will  form  gravel,  surface-clay,  loose  sand,  or 
soft  limestone;  some,  from  greater  depth  and  more 
altered,  will  show  the  effect  of  chemical  action  by  un- 
mistakable chemical  and  atomic  change,  while  the  wealth 
of  their  fossil  organic  remains  sufficiently  speaks  of  their 
mechanical  origin;  others  again,  much  deeper,  will  have 
been  so  completely  altered  as  to  have  lost  all  trace  of 
this  life-origin.  It  does  not  the  less  follow  that  they 
have  once  contained  fossils  as  distinct  and  as  numerous 
as  those  of  any  recent  deposit. 

As  each  rock  comes  again  within  the  influence  of 
surface-disturbance,  it  will  be  worn  away  by  the  river,  or 
beaten  into  fragments  by  the  tidal  wave;  water  will  once 
more  destroy  what  water  originally  formed,  what  water 
afterwards  modified,  and  what  will  once  more  be  con- 
verted into  a  deposit  at  the  bottom  of  the  same  ever- 
present  but  ever-active  element. 

In  all  the  great  circle  of  changes  concerning  which 
Geology  informs  us,  water  is,  then,  the  chief  agent. 
Heat  and  chemical  action  of  themselves  could  do  little, 
and  certainly  could  not  produce  what  is  needed  for  our 
world.  They  act  with  and  by  water,  and  thus  produce 
their  results. 


324   THE  TREASURES  CONTAINED  IN  THE  BOOK. 

Abstract  this  important  form  of  matter,  and  we  may 
imagine  what  the  result  would  be.  The  great  ocean 
would  be  but  a  salt  desert  without  an  oasis, — the  land  a 
dry  parched  rock;  there  would  be  no  life,  animal  or 
vegetable, — not  even  the  smallest  animalcule,  or  the  red 
lichen  on  the  snow.  The  sky  would  be  without  cloud, 
and  the  thermic  and  magnetic  currents  would  cease  to 
vivify  the  dry  bones  that  would  then  form  but  a  skeleton 
of  the  earth. 

Water  is  the  life  of  the  earth,  as  blood  is  the  life  of 
man.  This  is  a  wonderful  and  instructive  analogy,  and 
one  which  may  lead  to  many  useful  suggestions  in  the 
contemplation  of  Nature. 


®be  Sljutting-ttp  0f  %  tot  Stone  §00ft, 


'And  tliis,  tlie  naked  countenance  of  earth, 
On  which  I  gaz<-,  even  these  primeval  mountains, 
Teach  the  adverting  mind.    The  glaciers  creep 
Like  snakes  that  watch  their  prey,  from  their  far  fountains 
Slowly  rolling  on."  .  .  . 

"  Mont  Elanc  yet  gleams  on  high.    The  power  is  there, 
The  still  and  solemn  power  of  many  sights 
And  many  sounds,  and  much  of  life  and  death." 

..."  Winds  contend 

Silently  there,  and  heap  the  snow  with  breath 
Rapid  and  strong,  hut  silently!"  .  .  . 

"  The  secret  strength  of  things 
Which  governs  thought,  and  to  the  infinite  dome 
Of  heaven  is  as  a  law,  inhabits  thee! 
And  what  wert  tliou,  and  earth,  and  stars,  and  sea, 
If  to  the  human  mind's  imaginings 
Silence  and  solitude  were  vacancy?" 

SHELLEY'S  "  MONT  BLANC,"  Stanzas  iv.  v. 


28 


r  %  < 

CONCLUSION. 

THE  reader  has  been  introduced  to  a  few  of  the  many 
remarkable  additions  to  human  knowledge  that  have 
been  made  by  the  study  of  that  Great  Stone  Book, — the 
World.  The  history  of  the  world,  from  a  very  early 
date,  if  not  from  the  beginning,  is  a  history  recorded  at 
every  step,  but  of  which  the  records  are  buried  and  con- 
cealed as  fast  as  they  are  made.  It  is  as  if  each  hour  of 
a  human  being's  existence,  and  each  action  performed, 
were  instantaneously  photographed,  and  the  photographs 
immediately  thrown  into  a  heap  as  they  were  prepared. 
If  from  time  to  time,  after  the  original  heaping,  we  sup- 
pose this  curious  and  vast  collection  disturbed, — if  the 
floor  on  which  they  were  piled  should  have  lost  part  of 
its  support,  or  should  have  partially  fallen  in,  and  should 
be  propped  up  and  broken  in  the  operation, — if  some 
members  of  the  series  should,  from  time  to  time,  have 
been  used  up  for  other  purposes,  and  in  so  far  destroyed, 
— if,  when  all  is  over,  the  surface  should  be  concealed  and 
its  appearance  changed  by  dust  and  mould, — then  should 
we  have  a  case  not  very  dissimilar  to  that  of  our  earth's 
surface  and  its  history,  and  the  difficulties  met  with  by 
geologists  in  making  out  the  history.  Just  as  no  mode- 

327 


328  THE    SHUTTING-UP 

rate  amount  of  disturbance  would  be  likely  to  destroy  or 
obliterate  much  of  the  detail,  or  even  modify  the  main 
outlines  of  the  order,  while  the  relative  position  or  the 
style  of  the  picture  at  any  period  would  be  a  guide  that 
could  be  trusted  to  distinguish  the  earlier  from  the  later 
representations,  so  in  the  history  of  Nature  we  are  quite 
satisfied  that  the  evidence  we  possess  is  sound  and  satis- 
factory, though  the  details  may  long  remain  doubtful  and 
admit  of  discussion.  Making  the  best  use  of  available 
material,  it  has  been  attempted  to  reproduce  something 
of  reality  in  these  .sketches, — to  show  both  how  to  learn 
and  what  to  learn  in  Geology,  and  to  give  some  notion  as 
to  how  far  the  statements  which  are  made  have  been  de- 
rived from  observation. 

Like  all  knowledge  that  is  worth  any  thing,  that  which 
has  brought  Geology  to  its  place  among  the  sciences  is 
cumulative,  or  has  been  derived  from  the  accumulation 
of  isolated  facts  and  points  of  evidence  worked  into  a 
connected  history.  The  discoveries  of  to-day  form  the 
basis  of  future  discoveries,  and  every  thing  proved  suggests 
something  new  to  prove.  There  is  no  finality  in  such  a 
science.  The  more  we  know  and  see,  the  wider  is  our 
field  of  vision  extended  towards  those  distant  and  as  yet 
unapproached  facts  and  those  further  deductions  which, 
when  learnt  and  understood,  will  only  open  a  yet  wider 
view.  If  we  could  ever  thoroughly  know  the  history  of 
our  own  planet,  we  should  perhaps  make  use  of  that 
knowledge  to  speculate  on  its  relations  to  other  planets, 
while  at  present  we  help  our  geological  speculations  by 
evidence  deduced  from  observations  on  them.  Could  we 
determine  the  whole  succession  of  extinct  species,  we 


OP   THE   GREAT   STONE   BOOK.  329 

might  understand  the  mysterious  laws  which  govern  the 
development  of  the  race  as  well  as  the  individual ;  but 
even  that  knowledge,  great  as  it  is,  would  but  suggest 
views  concerning  the  nature  of  life  itself.  But,  though 
we  never  can  really  and  fully  know  all  or  any  of  these 
subjects  thoroughly,  we  are  ever  approaching  more  and 
more  nearly  towards  a  knowledge  of  them.  As,  from 
time  to  time,  we  make  some  fresh  important  discovery 
concerning  them,  every  such  discovery  helps  us  to  under- 
stand a  whole  host  of  phenomena  that  before  seemed 
obscure,  contradictory,  and  strange;  and  thus  every  step 
secured  lays  the  foundation  for  another  step, — every 
light  thrown  upon  part  of  a  dark  group  helps  to  throw 
light  on  the  remaining  members  of  the  group. 

The  summing  up  of  the  attempts  that  have  been 
made,  in  these  pages,  to  enable  the  general  reader  to 
understand  and  take  an  interest  in  the  details  of  the 
earth's  history,  may  now  be  presented  in  a  few  words; 
and  in  stating  this  result  I  will  endeavor  to  point  out 
not  only  what  is  already  known  concerning  the  earth, 
but  what  may  probably  be  known,  whether  soon  or  at  a 
more  advanced  period  in  the  history  of  science,  and  also 
what  part  we  cannot  hope  ever  to  make  out. 

And,  first,  it  appears  that  to  observe,  compare,  and 
record  all  that  goes  on  around  us,  of  every  kind,  is  the 
only  path  to  geological  knowledge.  There  is  in  Nature 
so  much  that  is  constant,  producing  so  much  that  is 
variable, — such  infinite  difference  of  effect  brought  about 
by  such  constantly  recurring  causes, — that,  so  far  as  the 
present  can  teach,  we  find  all  reduced  to  a  narrow  limit 
of  ultimate  and  proximate  causation.  We  find  heat 

28* 


330  THE    SHUTTING-UP 

and  cold,  wet  and  dry,  storm  and  sunshine,  always  and 
everywhere  working  together.  There  are  certain  che- 
mical changes  produced  by  these,  and  others  that  are 
mechanical;  but,  on  the  whole,  the  subtle  agencies  at 
work  above  and  around  us,  in  the  air  and  ocean,  are  so 
efficacious,  that  no  rest  is  given  to  any  material  sub- 
stance, and  a  constant  circulation  is  kept  up,  involving 
incessant  change  of  the  surface.  To  measure  these 
changes,  as  far  as  possible,  to  find  out  their  ramifications 
and  their  connecting  links,  is  a  study  that  is  never- 
ending,  and  always  .productive  of  fresh  discovery.  It  is 
the  most  useful,  the  most  suggestive,  the  most  instruct- 
ive, of  all  studies  of  Nature.  It  is  open  to  every  one; 
it  may  be  carried  on  by  the  rich  and  the  poor,  the 
idle  and  the  busy,  the  well-instructed  and  the  little- 
instructed  among  us.  It  requires  only  honesty,  intelli- 
gence, and  earnestness.  It  can  never  fail;  for  material 
is  always  at  hand. 

The  study  of  Nature,  with  a  view  to  find  out  the 
mode  and  extent  of  action  of  present  causes,  is  the  first 
and  greatest  of  all  preparations  for  pursuing  Geology. 
It  is  the  only  proper  preparation;  and  the  more  com- 
prehensive and  complete  it  is,  the  better  is  the  student 
adapted  for  carrying  out  future  investigations.  No 
department  is  too  general,  none  too  special,  for  this 
purpose.  The  discovery  of  the  law  that  regulates  the 
distribution  of  an  insect,  a  zoophyte,  or  even  an  animal- 
cule, may  lead  to  discoveries  of  the  greatest  and  widest 
importance.  If  we  knew  the  laws  that  governed  the 
introduction  of  the  lower  forms  of  animal  and  vege- 
table life, — if  we  even  knew  exactly  what  is  the  precise 


OF   THE   GREAT   STONE   BOOK.  331 

line  of  demarcation  between  animal  and  vegetable  life,  or 
could  clearly  see  why  certain  modifications  of  form  of 
some  of  these  have  been  induced  by  changes  of  circum- 
stance in  their  development, — the  result  could  not  fail  to 
have  the  most  direct  and  important  bearing  on  the  whole 
history  of  extinct  races,  and  their  distribution  in  the 
older  as  well  as  newer  rocks.  If  we  could  determine — a 
matter  clearly  within  observation,  but  as  yet  unattained 
— the  exact  amount  and  rate  of  changes  of  level  in  the 
land,  on  certain  coast-lines  that  we  know  to  be  subject  to 
upheaval,  and  could  connect  that  knowledge  with  altera- 
tions on  exposed  coasts  in  the  vicinity,  or  measure  accu- 
rately the  change  produced  by  the  action  of  the  tidal 
wave  in  a  given  time,  there  would  be  a  basis  for  gene- 
ralizations far  more  accurate  than  can  be  at  present  at- 
tempted. If,  indeed,  a  very  small  part  only  of  all  the 
numerous  opportunities  presented  in  Nature  by  the  pro- 
gress of  events  had  been  carefully  and  minutely  observed 
and  recorded  for  only  a  single  century,  the  state  of 
Natural  Science  at  the  present  day  would  be  far  more  satis- 
factory than  it  is,  and  Geology  would  be  far  more  of  an 
accurate  science  than  it  can  now  claim  to  be.  But  patient 
honest  observers  are  rare,  and  the  work  they  do  is  quiet 
and  unobtrusive :  their  results,  also,  are  rarely  immediate. 
Thus  it  is  that,  for  one  useful  worker,  there  are  many 
who  prefer  vague  speculations,  and  many  more  who  only 
amuse  themselves  with  technicalities,  and  waste  their 
energies  on  the  discovery  and  naming  of  new  species  or 
new  subdivisions  of  a  recognized  system  of  arrangement. 
The  Great  Stone  Book  lies  ever  before  us:  it  is  not 
closed  by  any  complicated  mystery,  of  which  we  cannot 


332  THE    SHUTTING-UP 

find  the  key;  it  is  not  written  in  a  character  we  cannot 
decipher : — it  is  illustrated  by  forms  of  animated  nature, 
sufficiently  like  those  now  living  to  suggest  comparison, 
but  sufficiently  different  to  give  individuality  to  each 
separate  group.  The  plan  of  Nature,  as  there  shown,  is 
not  different  from  that  plan  the  operation  of  which  we 
can  trace  from  year  to  year,  and  from  century  to  century, 
in  the  experience  of  generations  of  men.  The  methods 
now  adopted  to  bring  about  certain  results  seem  always 
to  have  been  adopted  for  similar  purposes.  The  Great 
Overruling  Power,  to  whom  we  all  look  as  the  Final 
Cause,  has  ordained  from  the  beginning  certain  laws, — 
some  affecting  all  material  combinations,  mineral  as  well 
as  organic;  others,  developed  perhaps  from  them,  and 
involving  certain  forms  of  life;  others,  again,  further  de- 
veloped, and  only  commencing  to  operate  when  more 
complex  forms  have  been  elaborated  from  those  that  are 
more  simple.  It  is  the  privilege  of  the  naturalist  to  lift 
the  veil  that  conceals  the  working  of  these  methods,  so 
far  as  it  is  possible  to  do  so.  Should,  however,  any  frag- 
ment of  a  system  be  recognized,  so  prone  are  men  to  gene- 
ralize that  we  are  apt  to  assume  that  a  law  is  disco- 
vered; and  at  once  this  law  is  supposed  to  be  universal, 
and  to  extend,  or  to  have  extended,  through  all  time 
and  space.  It  may  be  that  the  system,  thus  doubtfully 
perceived  and  imperfectly  comprehended,  is  only  a  part 
of  some  larger  system;  and,  under  any  circumstances,  we 
certainly  have  no  authority  to  assume  that  Nature,  or  the 
God  of  Nature,  is  in  any  sense  bound  by  it,  or  unable  to 
supersede  or  modify  it. 

Among  systems  and  methods  or  laws  of  this  kind  we 


OF   THE   GREAT   STONE   BOOK.  333 

may  even  name  the  law  of  gravitation, — one  of  the 
simplest  and  grandest  ever  promulgated,  and  one  that  is 
believed  to  apply  to  all  matter  throughout  the  universe. 
Of  such  methods  also  is  the  supposed  law,  according  to 
which,  in  organic  nature,  certain  peculiarities  of  struc- 
ture are  handed  down  from  generation  to  generation  in  a 
plant  or  animal,  producing  what  is  called  specific  distinc- 
tion. Certainly,  it  is  strange  that  two  sets  of  animals  or 
plants,  sufficiently  like  in  important  respects,  do  not 
intermingle,  but  always  seem  to  continue  distinct  species, 
while  two  others,  apparently  very  unlike,  belong  to  each 
other  and  are  mere  varieties.  That  it  is  so  we  know  from 
experience.  We  may  some  day  discover  the  real  method 
of  Nature  in  this  matter,  and  learn  how  it  is  that,  as 
time  rolls  on,  one  species  has  been  succeeded  by  another, 
— some  species,  like  some  individuals,  being  hardy  and 
long-lived,  while  others  are  weak  and  short-lived, — some 
species  growing  out  of  others,  apparently  if  not  really, 
and  other  species  suddenly  dying  or  suddenly  appearing, 
as  place  for  them  ceased  to  exist  or  was  created. 

That  these  dark  and  obscure  matters  are  to  be  cleared 
up  and  rendered  intelligible  by  the  study  of  the  records 
in  the  Great  Stone  Book,  and  that,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  curious  and  difficult  problems  there  presented  will 
be  ultimately  solved  by  minute  investigations  concerning 
Nature  as  she  now  pursues  her  course,  is  at  least  highly 
probable.  It  is  thus  that  Geology,  and  what  is  usually 
called  "Natural  History,"  are  connected  together  and 
assist  one  another  j  and  thus  also  the  various  departments 
of  Physical  Science  are  made  to  bear  one  upon  another, 


334  THE    SHUTTING-UP 

and  all  are  found  to  assist  in  clearing  up  the  ancient  his- 
tory of  our  earth. 

In  conclusion,  if  there  is  one  lesson  which,  more  fully 
than  any  other,  is  taught  by  the  Great  Stone  Book  of  the 
World,  and  which  chiefly  needs  to  be  impressed  on  the 
mind  and  memory  of  the  geological  student,  it  is  this : — 
Study  to  become  familiar  with  familiar  things  ;  observe 
the  methods  now  adopted  in  Nature  to  bring  about  cer- 
tain results;  measure  and  estimate  their  value  and  the 
extent  of  their  action.  Learn  how  at  present  all  things, 
organic  and  inorganic,  are  mutually  dependent,  so  that 
if  any  one  is  changed  all  the  rest  are  changed  in  accord- 
ance, and  weigh  well  the  full  meaning  of  this  great  fact. 
In  a  word,  endeavor  to  comprehend  what  is  meant  by  the 
uniform  method  and  the  infinite  variety  of  Nature.  Here 
lies  the  great  secret  of  Nature  and  the  great  charm  of 
natural-history  labors.  None  can  ever  tire  of  studying 
Nature;  for  there  is  always  an  abundant  store  of  yet 
undiscovered  facts  in  the  progress  of  the  present  creation 
as  well  as  in  the  history  of  the  past.  On  the  other  hand, 
none  need  fear  that  he  may  fail  at  coming  to  a  safe  and 
satisfactory  result;  for  all  is  the  work  of  one  Almighty 
Power,  and  has  been  elaborated  from  the  beginning  as 
part  of  one  vast,  comprehensive,  and  infinitely  wise 
scheme,  in  which  apparent  interruptions  and  interpola- 
tions have  been  foreseen,  and  are  but  parts  of  the  full 
and  complete  development  of  an  original  plan.  Surely 
it  is  a  higher  and  more  noble  conception  of  the  Supreme 
Being,  and  one  more  likely  to  lead  to  the  discovery  of 
truth,  to  believe  in  the  existence  of  a  plan  as  perfect  as 
its  Designer,  than  to  presume  that  this  earth  has  been 


OF   THE    GREAT    STONE    BOOK.  335 

the  result  of  a  series  of  experiments  and  failures,  or  has 
been  the  scene  of  great  disturbances  and  convulsions  in 
Inorganic  Nature,  and  of  successive  creations  of  what  we 
ignorantly  call  higher  organisms  in  the  world  of  organic 
life !  We  may  never  in  this  life  succeed  in  discovering 
the  whole  plan,  for  it  is  not  likely  that  finite  powers  can 
grasp  the  Infinite  Design.  But  each  endeavor  that  is 
made,  humbly  and  honestly,  will  be  productive  of  good: 
and  the  student  will  rise  from  the  study  of  any  part, 
either  of  the  works  or  the  method,  with  wider  and  clearer 
views,  and  be  better  fitted  to  perform  his  other  duties  and 
be  useful  to  his  fellow-men. 


THE   END. 


STEREOTYPED  BT  L.  JOHNSON  *  CO. 
PHILADELPHIA. 


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